The Greatest ride of my life

I slaughtered them all who dared to come in my path. Their blood and body fluids were impairing my ability to see through the tunnel of light ahead of me. The beast that I was astride on was growling like all hungry and mad and warping past other slower species of the bigger lethargic kind. There I was alone in the battlefield, no one there to challenge me. I had the perfect weapon. As a man without any challenge I was growing over confident. Then I felt something invisible hitting hard on my forearms. They fell just short of penetrating my skin. Then I felt cold, very cold. And suddenly I was woken up from my surreal analogy by a deafening clap of thunder. I was back again in real world as I slowed down.

The dream run was over, but just till I went past under the heavy storm clouds. And then I would start all over again with my dream.

The challenge was new and motivated us enough to only see what should be the odo reading for the day – just short of 800kms : Chennai – Hyderabad via Vijayawada.

This was Nov 13th, the 76th Day of GIR and perhaps the longest ever that we will ever do in a day in the whole tour.

The stretch from Chennai – Vijaywada was the best road that I had ever set my quick wheels ( the 1000rr Fireblade ) on. For 450kms it was sheer bliss. I can do a fingercount of the number of times I had to slow down below 100kmph. I rode through the blazing sun overhead, through crosswinds and through rain which felt like god had forgot to turn off his tap while he watched me maneuver the stupendous Blade on speeds even his chariots would fear to stumble on. Ha! It seemed I ruled the world.

The servicing done to the Blade by Vivek ( Tectrac Racing, Chennai ) was terrific. The bike was very responsive and was running buttersmooth. That day I realized how lucky I was to be able to ride this bike which sent a million hearts racing in the Indian subcontinent. It was then I felt anger, pain and utter disappointment in the policies of Indian Government which made it utterly painful to import a superbike in India. So, in the year 2006, I rode 8000kms into the GIR, I rode the bike which is not accessible to 99% of the Indian populations – either because of the prohibitive cost factor or the general lack of awareness about how to import a bike in India.

Coming back to my experience of riding the beast on NH 5, I had not quite expected it to be so surreal. For more than 10 seconds I was well above 150kmph. Even on the Jaipur – Ahmedabad stretch I couldn’t manage that due to lack in confidence of the road ahead, even though both are 4 lane highways. One more difference was the amount of green landscape I had across my field of view from left to right, and the grey tarmac, It was like a secret video game level unplugged.

Actually, the overall thrill of accelerating away from standstill and still overtaking Schumacher in a Bolero coming with the pedal floored on a 4 lane tarmac is unbelievably addictive and dangerous at the same time. You have to check for wet patches, curves, people on the road with an intention to make a quick crossover to the other side. It is a wild world with roses in between that you have to choose and take your pick. Riding a litre class bike for short distances can be fun and a method of relaxing, but long distance touring is a different story with many other elements deciding what can happen in the next 40 odd meters which you cover in a second if you are at 150kmph. The concentration levels have to be top notch, your eyes have scan both ends of the road for live entities trying to cross your path, particularly the bushes in the divider of the four lane highway which might hide goats, dogs, cows, buffaloes and villagers ready to play touch-me-if-you-can on the road.

I will keep my excitement short and would like to list down somethings quickly.

The highpoints of the ride

1. 4 Lane highways
2. Green landscapes all around
3. Played with a Merc, Safari, Scorpio, Accent and other lethargic creatures on the road with vicarious demeanor.
4. Was above 200kmph on many occasions for a couple of seconds
5. Was above 150kmph on many occasions for more than 10 seconds at a stretch.
6. Left the rest of the team behind in the fear of not riding in the dark. Refuelled 3 times with unleaded petrol and just added Octane boosters.

The lowpoints:

1. The torrential rain ( still was hovering around 100kmph with no discomfort at all ).
2. The insects splattering over my visor every now and then.
3. The Fireblade’s front was totally covered with organic material from posthumous insects.
4. The road after Vijaywada was hell after dusk. It is a single lane killer highway if traversed after dark, primarily because of the blinding lights from the oncoming traffic which doesn’t have the sense to use low beam. Thanks to the 1000RRs headlights I used to traumatize them myself a little bit, just to teach them a lesson.

5. I was carrying a 10kg backpack with the laptop, camera, Ipod etc in it for a whole 700kms.

All in all, I would say the percentage of good highways and roads is increasing everyday and that day is not far when an all India trip on a superbike with average speeds above 70kmph would be possible without the danger of your picture being hung on a wall with a garland of flowers.

Check http://www.nhai.org for more information on roads in India, specially the Golden Quadrilateral.