First Time – Out!

Nope that’s not what you assume. I have done more than 30,000 kilometers solo rides on my Bullet. This was the first time-out I took, after relocating to Bangalore in July 2006, I have been riding my Bullet back and forth Chennai – Bangalore – Chennai, something that has become like waking up in the morning. I came back to Bangalore after a long break in Chennai. Of course it was not exactly a holiday, I was down and out with Chicken Pox for nearly twenty five days. Since I was shuttling between Bangalore and Chennai quite often, I did not take time – out, for any pleasure rides during the past few months. I am not sure, was it the Chicken Pox of staying at home for nearly twenty days, I was craving for a long ride alone!

The whole of the week I was discussing with Tommy about several destinations around Bangalore. Mysore, Nandi Hills, BR Hills, Thalai Cauvery and lots more were on the cards. Tommy has a Bajaj Pulsar and wanted to ride along. As the weekend approached Tommy had other commitments to carry out. He was planning to buy a car and this weekend he wanted to dedicate to scout around for a good deal for his new car, so I thought I would make it alone. Friday came and so did the weekend, on Saturday I woke up and found myself a bit sour and lazy, I stayed home all day watching TV, washing my cloths, cleaning up the house etc.,.

Sunday was perfect! I woke up early and it was a beautiful day with bright sunshine and I got my Bullet out and cleaned him up. As I was taking my bath I realized that I haven’t thought about my destination. I was not worried about that, I had ridden to blind destinations several times, that add to the thrill when riding alone – when you are not prepared for what you will bump into it gets more exhilarating. After the bath I got myself clad with my riding gear. Nothing much of a gear you would call that – weather worn out jeans, my heavy Woodland boots – which had saved my foot at least a couple of times, riding jacket, gloves, skull cap and most important of all my helmet.

I started off from my place straight to a food joint and had my breakfast. I was then going to wards a fuel station to top – up the fuel; I saw a road sign showing straight ahead to Mysore. I though Mysore would be good destination, I have heard that the Bangalore – Mysore road is beautiful and to be spot on that road did satisfy me with is beautiful curves. From the fuel station I started riding towards the Mysore Road and within a few minutes I could feel I was leaving the city behind and after passing the Bangalore University I opened the throttle a little bit and maintained my speed at 80 km/hr. To make things much brighter Mr. Kumaraswamy the Chief Minister of Karnataka was traveling to on that road that day and there were police all along the road to watch out for jay walkers and direct reckless drivers.

I rode for nearly 140 Kilometers without any incident, passed Srirangapattnam – got a glimpse of the Great Fort of Tippu Sultan and I was on the outskirts of Mysore I saw a road sign – Take Left Turn for Ooty. I did not have any second thoughts, just turned on the indicator and turned Left! I guess this particular road was built to keep the passing traffic out of Mysore, after going around the city I could sense that the road was leading to the other end of Mysore now I realized I should have right through Mysore.

The best part of the day’s ride was after passing Mysore. I started to go towards Ooty and realized I would be crossing the Bandipur on the way and that made me even more energized. The riding was becoming more intense with bad road, scary pot holes and blind curves. I was cruising steadily at 60 km/hr and I have done nearly 35 Kilometers form Mysore, I started feeling thirsty and stopped near a tender coconut vendor. I had four coconuts before my thirst could be quenched and thought about a break. I took off my gloves and jacket, turned on my mobile and was shocked to find that it was already 02:00 PM; I started form home at 10:00 AM. I had done 180 odd kilometers in four hours. Now I realized that it will not be able to go all the way either to Ooty or Bandipur as I would be late to reach home and since I had to work on Monday I decided against to go further and made a U turn. But I decided Ooty would be the destination on my next lone ride!

The return journey was without incident except for my Bullet getting unusually hot. I stopped at a fuel station to after crossing Srirangapattnam and found that the engine oil was leaking from the front pivot used to drain oil. I was shocked when I found the engine oil level was at its bare minimum. I topped up the oil and started the ride back to Bangalore and I could feel the engine was thumping much better. I had to break hard and bring my ride to a stand still when an old mad came right in front of me and hindered, I did not try to avoid him as I was not sure which direction he would move! Other than that the entire ride was an utter pleasure! I was home by 05:30 PM safe and sound and thanking my Bull for the bringing me safe!

Ride Well My Friends!

Riding is Meditation!

I have always wanted to share my thoughts about my Thunderbird for quite a while but never did. I have been a Royal Enfield fan since by boy days, watching my uncles riding with pride and power. I started to ride a Bullet 350 when I was 13 years old but it took me over 15 years after my first bullet ride to own a Bullet of my own. I really could not tell why I went for the Thunderbird I was having Enfield Electra in my mind for quite some time but as soon as I test rode the Thunderbird I knew this was mine and made my choice to buy a Thunderbird Magic Black.


I have named my ride Poseidon – Named after the Greek God of the Seas! I really feel like a God when I ride my steed with the slight modification I did with the help of my great mechanic, we fabricated the front seat lower by 4 inches and have stretched the gear shift and the rear break pedal about a foot to the front to have a stretched riding position though this is not quite comfortable when riding with the city limits I have learnt the tricks and really feel like flying when I ride on the highways.

I wanted to actively participate and engage with Bullet Clubs like REDS and Madras Bulls or mad Bulls I should call them, but my work keeps me off them so I have to live up with solo rides I make quite so often. Many of my friends call me crazy when I tell then the urge to go for a ride just for the heck of it, for example a few days back I was lying on my bed on a Saturday night, suddenly at around 11:30 pm something came over me and I got out of my bed dressed up and started my Thunderbird, waited patiently for a few minutes for the engine to get heated up and then just rode, rode and when I came back home it was well past 7am in the morning.

I have a few friends who are Bullet enthusiasts and we go on a ride on and off but most of my rides are solo and riding solo is real fun. Most of my travels have been centered on Chennai. I have made Chennai–Bangalore in four and half hours straight and Chennai–Pondicherry in two hours. I did make a trip to my hometown 700kms in 11 hours straight but this was quite a while ago!
I want to write more about my riding experiences but as someone said I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen. We are all travelers in wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend, I did find one. My bike and I on the road in full song gives me such peace of mind and I feel like I am meditating when I ride my Thunder!

Ride Well My Friends!

Cold, Wet and yet loving it!

I moved from Chennai to Bangalore looking for greener pastures, I did indeed find one and was slowly settling down. As a matter of fact when the discussion came on how to move my Bullet from Chennai to Bangalore everyone was unanimous in asking me to put him no a transport vehicle (Truck or Train) and ship it to Bangalore and of course I did not listen to them and rode him all the way. Nope, that’s not what I am going to write about; coz that was a very accustomed trip started off in the morning and reached Bangalore in 5 hours. All who knew me would know I could do that anytime!

It has been nearly three months since I have really gone on a ride. I have been using Poseidon (My Bullet) for riding within Bangalore. I was raring to go on a long ride. Diwali weekend came and I thought I would take Poseidon to Chennai, having this in mind I did not bother to buy any tickets to Chennai. But the plans changed when my Fiancée wanted me to accompany her and her sister’s family in their car. I have to change my plan but I knew at the back on my mind that a ride was certainly on the cards before long. I came back from Diwali and the following week I took off.

27th October 2006, my plan was to finish my shift and take off. The previous Day I swapped my shift with my good friend Atom (Abhilash Tom) so that I could start off an hour earlier (i.e., 21:30 Hrs) Before going to the office to dropped in at the Cramster (http://www.cramster.in/) to pickup The Turtle (This is a magnetic bag which fits on the fuel tank – I found it quite useful on my trip). I restlessly spent the hours at work and I started to get phone calls from my folks back home that it was raining hard in Chennai. This gave me twofold thoughts about riding to Chennai. I knew my well wishers would be worried about me, riding all the way in the rain. But my mind was very clear about the ride; I didn’t want to have any second thoughts about it. I spoke to Bharath (my Manager) and got his consent to leave office by 19:30 Hrs. I said chao to my friends and pulled out my belongings and was ready to leave.

I started off from Electronic City – Bangalore at 20:00 Hrs, I weaved all the way through the heavy traffic till the check post and after that it was clear open highway. I knew I will be able to beet the traffic if I started before 22:00 Hrs. The road was almost empty after Hosur except for a few two wheelers and trucks. I was cruising at 80 Km/Hr, the journey was uneventful by and large till Krishnagiri except for a duo on a Pulsar tried to showoff, but I showed them what a Bullet is capable of on a highway when I let them go for a distance and then zoom past them at 120 Km/Hr and all they could do was to gasp the air from my Bullet’s exhaust pipe.

The real thrill was after Krishnagiri when it started to drizzle. I immediately slowed down to 60 Km/Hr as I did not want to take any risk. The Turtle – Tank Bag has a rain cover, you could pull it on when it really pours down, I pulled it on so that my stuff were secure within. Soon afterwards the downpour started to lash so hard that it was as though the Rain God had opened the sky and was pouring buckets of water at me. Soon after I found my leather gloves were soaking wet, my jeans was drenched and I could feel water shush within my shoes. My helmet and my jacket were shielding me well. But as we all know all good things come to an end and not so soon my jacket started to give way and I started to feel cold rain water on my chest and my back.

My Bullet’s head light was pretty bad, I have been complaining to my mechanic about that for quite some time. More than the head light the rain made my line of sight worst; a number of times I had to take off my helmet’s visor to find my spot on the road. The most horrible part was the vehicles on the opposite side of the road with bright high beam lights. It was just a matter of time I got used to these surroundings and I started to cruise steadily at 80 Km/Hr. I was soaked to the skin and once in a while I could feel my knees shivering. I was shuddering with cold, feeling wet all over, with heavy rain falling all around and headlights beaming right into my eyes – it was almost zero visibility, yet my Bullet gave me the power and confidence to ride through nearly 350 Kilometers.

About 50 Kms before reaching Chennai I took a break to fill in few liters of fuel as I was running with minimum amount of fuel for this trip. Usually Bangalore – Chennai trip is made non stop. By 01:00 Hrs I was at home. This trip from Bangalore to Chennai took me 5 hours. I have mad the same distance in 4 hours once before but this one was special or I should say made special by the Weather Gods. As some said “Experience, travel - these are as education in themselves” I did learn soothing out of this journey, something that cant be explained by punching on the keyboard, something that needs to be felt, something that can be only felt when you are out there on a dark, cold, wet and alone riding a trusted comrade.

Most of them out there would say I am crazy to make such a risky ride – Its kind of hard to explain WHY? But a fellow rider will understand WHY!

Ride Well My Friends!

Great Ride to Horsley Hills!

Wow, what a trip! That was the word spoke by all the bikers after this wonderful weekend trip which was planned over a smoking break two days before making the trip!

Horsley Hills – A wonderful little hill station located in Andhra Pradesh, Chitoor District. I found this place when browsing through the Internet. Very little told or written about this place. I discussed with my friends over instant messenger and they agreed to make this trip happen.

Bikers:

Vignesh (myself) – Thunderbird 2003

Jagdish – Thunderbird 2005

Yuvaraj – Thunderbird 2006

Arvind – Pillion Rider

Bharath – Pillion Rider

We did not know what to expect at Horsley Hills, we did not make any reservations for our stay or did call up AP Tourism for any enquires; we just planned to pack the bags and leave at 03:00 hrs on 6th May 2006. All of us work in night shifts except for Jags and Bharath. On Friday I planned to leave office at 22:00 hrs so that I could catch up some sleep before starting off the next morning but I was stuck up at work till 23:30 hrs. It was half past midnight when I was on my bed. Yuvaraj was not working on Friday but Arvind worked the entire shift and was done only by 02:30 hrs, he went straight to Yuvaraj’s house to start the trip. We all assembled in front of Bharath’s flat near the Miot Hospital and the journey kicked off at 04:00 hrs.

Except for me most of the guys were new to riding long distances. I like to have very minimal and only essential breaks during my ride. The first break was 10 minutes into the trip for couple of guys wanted to draw money from the ATM and top up fuel. We crossed Ponnamallee without any incidents and cruised steadily on Bangalore Highway. We had a quick pit stop before Ranipet to get some water and had some tea. After crossing the tollbooth we took a right turn and headed towards Chitoor. At 08:30 hrs before reaching Chitoor we had breakfast at a roadside dhaba, we had roties with chicken, dhal fry and eggs. After a good breakfast we rode hard towards Horsley Hills crossing Chitoor via the bypass road, the road between Chitoor and Palamneer was great but the best part of the trip was the road between Palamneer and Madhanapalli – the winding road running through reserve forest was a real treat for a biker riding each and every curve, every uphill and every downhill at 80 Km/hr was fun. One could feel the efficiency of a Bullet when riding on those kinds of roads at that speed.

By noon we reached the foot hills of Horsley Hills and the destination was just 11 Kms. Uphill with four hair pin bends and great view of the valley and the tiny hamlets below. We stopped midway for a photo session and we reached the reception of AP Tourism Development and got ourselves into a cozy little cottage and relaxed for couple of hours and started to explore the area. We climbed to the tallest point to get an amazing view of the valley around us and waited till the sun set to see those brilliant colors. We returned to our cottage and ordered food and played cards well into the night.

The guys were snoring hard in their sleep I had a tough time sleeping but still managed to sleep for a few hours. I woke up at 03:00 hrs on Sunday morning. I wanted to catch up with a few more hours of sleep as we had planned to go to Gurramkonda Fort which is about 50 Kms from Horsley Hills. But finding it very tough to sleep because of the snoring I decided to walk around Horsley Hills all alone in the dark. I first started off by visiting the view point behind the Governor’s bungalow and the strolled past the police station and the nearly ruined Bharath Scouts & Guides Camp House – this camp house brought back lots of old memories form my scouting days. Then I walked to the Wind Cliff and waited for the sunrise.

I came back to the cottage only to find the guys still snoring and decided to clean my bike. This is when I had the shock of my trip – I found my exhaust pipe had cracked right in the middle with just quarter of an inch only holding the metal. This made me more and more worried. Now the guys started to wake up and were worried just as me after coming to know about the exhaust pipe crack. We decided to cancel the trip to Gurramkonda Fort and go to Madanapalli to get the silencer fixed. I managed to get some M-Seal to stick on the cracked silencer and we left Horsley Hills behind us. He stopped on the way down hill for a photo session and next stop was Madanapalli. We reached Madanapalli only to find the exhaust pipe was completely broken and it took a good 1 hour for us to get the silencer welded. Now my Bullet started to roar happily once again. We zoomed past Madanapalli and Palamneer and we stopped at a Reliance A1 Plaza for lunch.

We had a pretty heavy lunch as we all skipped our breakfast. After riding for a few kilometers after lunch Arvind was not able to sit and requested me to stop. By now we had crossed into Tamil Nadu – Arvind was too tired to come along anymore and even thought of taking a bus back to Chennai but after resting for almost an hour he was feeling much better to continue to ride. We reached Chennai uneventfully riding steadily at 80 Km/hr. By 19:00 I was at by bed thanking my steed for bringing me back home safe!

Ride Well My Friends!

700 Kilometers in 12 hours!

700 Kilometers in 12 hours! Eventful road trip I made Chennai – Bangalore – Chennai. The reason for making this trip was something personal but I can certainly share the pleasure of riding or I should say riding hard. When I say hard riding itRiding Hard!!! means maintaining speed levels at 100 km/hr on our road conditions.

30th January 2006 was that even full day. My Bullet was back from my mechanic on Saturday with it new core silencer. I was initially skeptical to go for this silencer but I did not regret after hearing the beat this produced when I open the throttle. Already with the open carb my Thunderbird can clock 120 km/hr and now with this new silencer by Bullet is Fast & Mean which makes all living things on the road to take notice! Ok now with the new addition to my list of modifications topped out oil, new brake shoes for the rear tires and new brushes for the front disks I felt something was coming and I topped the 25 liter gas tank with fuel on Saturday.

Intuition turned reality on Sunday I had to leave for Bangalore and I made the decision to ride down to Bangalore at 11:00 Hrs I started off from home at 11:45 Hrs after idling the engine for a few minutes and I hit the road after weaving through our city roads and crossed Poonamalee – Chennai City outskirts. Now I started to open the throttle and rock the highway. After this it was only music or I should say rocking on the highway I was clocking between 100 – 110 km/hr. The ride was uneventful but for a few on lookers along the road and quite a number of cars, busses and trucks that I overtook. I could see a few giggles and people looking with envy. I made it nonstop to Bangalore by 16:30 Hrs went straight into the Forum in Koramangala had Pizza, some Cold Macaroni with pineapple, tomato soup and washed down with Pepsi. Nothing like a good meal after a ride!

Spent couple or relaxing hours and completed the chore I came for …..Kick started from Bangalore at 19:30 Hrs once again the chaotic city traffic even on a Sunday is painful I tool a wrong turn somewhere and was roaming within the city limits for over 25 minutes and finally hit the highway which opened up with minimal Sunday traffic. There is nothing like riding a Bullet dark highway, with just the thumping sound you leave behind the bright stars up above with the cold wind flowing all around you and the dark road that lie ahead at 100 km/hr – Nothing like that! Sadly I did play it safe and maintained my speed at 80 km/hr. amazing how the bullet eases along whenever the vehicle hits a pot hole or bumps of unfinished parts of the road. I did had to concentrate slightly harder when riding in the dark than in the morning as the air was a bit misty restricting the line of sight and cold wind was making my palms feel numb most of the time.

I wanted to make the return trip non stop to home – Chennai but I made a 10 minute pit stop somewhere near Kanchipuram, 55 Kilometers before Chennai as I felt my eyes were going tired. I had some tea and bottle of water and threw a couple of Boomers and started to chew them and before the chewing gums could loose their sweetness I reached home at the stroke of midnight. I was on my bed in 30 minutes after cleaning up and slept peacefully having enjoyed the ride and also knowing that I am home safe thanking my steed (or I should say Bull) for bringing me home safe.

Ride Well My Friends!