Hunting in packs

As the very name of my blog suggests, i usually am a solo motorcyclist. I enjoy my time alone on my bike, and don't do many group rides primarily because of some bad experiences i had with groups when i had just started riding. I rode away solo, and years have passed without me looking back, i have never joined any motorcycle club/group/gang or call it what you may.

But last Saturday, i met up with a few buddies from work to do a short (70km one way) breakfast ride to Jedcherla. 6 bullets and a KTM cruised the Bangalore highway with such finasse that it partially changed my opinon about riding in a group. The feel of 6 heavy machines, moving, rather than moving on the highway, with a rumble that caused a lot to stop and stare, was good fun! 

Group riding to me is all about bonding, and when priorities, interests and passions match, you have the basic ingredients for a good biker group. But it is very important to seek out actively, ones who match that outlook before rushing to join a group. Because having the same passion is more important than having the same brand of motorcycle.

I will still be mostly a solo rider, for i value my time with my bike alone on a highway over much else in life, but maybe the seeds are sown for developing a bond of the like of the oft written about brotherhood of bikers, maybe every once in a while, even a solo rider must hunt in a pack.

Check-list life...

1) Get hamster feed

2) Fill air in cycle

3) Buy a pair of black formal shoes

4) Get a new cover for love bird cage

5) Clean turtle tank

6) Pay airtel bill

7) Change bullet speedometer cable

8) Buy eggs and apples

9) Return library books...

...till saturday night, this is what my sunday looked like. A checklist of things to get done before the hustle of the week begins and all avocation is overcome by vocation.

But saturday night saw me sleep badly, I guess my mind was filled with the countless things I needed to get done, all the goals I had to achieve and all the dependencies I had to conquer to achieve those goals. I finally semi dozed off pretty late, wondering if I had gotten so busy trying to be someone in life, that I had stopped living at all (metaphorically ofcourse, otherwise I am quite alive).

I woke pretty early, as habit wouldn't have it any other way, and went through the  motions of getting ready. So preoccupied was I in some train of thought that I barely realised what I was doing till I very impulsively slipped on my riding boots. Snapping back to reality I reasoned that I couldn't possibly ride because I had a lot of things to get done today and I hadn't preped the bike for a ride, but then I had already gotten ready, and maybe I could just do a small ride and come back and get all the chores done...

Not trusting myself to the Bullet, I started the Jawa and set off on a highway around sunrise, hoping that since I had never ridden long on the Jawa before, I would be home in time for breakfast. But, before I knew it I was preoccupied again with some train of thought or the other and kept riding, when the bike went into reserve after Sangareddy, is when I came back to the present. It was too late to make it back home for breakfast, I muttered to myself "to hell with the checklist", found myself a fuel station, grabbed a bite and kept going.

As often occurs on long rides, I soon found my preoccupations fall away and began focussing on the ride and enjoying it. The 2-stroke 250cc engine hummed and fired perfectly along the smooth highway, the experience is very different from that of a 4-stroke, where you can dominate the highway, with little care for gearshifts or gradients. With a 2-stroke, you are cruising, responding to crests and troughs of the road with gear shifts and easing into corners rather than flooring the throttle. With the beauty of legacy behind it the 43 year old machine glided along the tarmac, leaving me to wonder if she could have been any different if she was brand new, and also leaving me to wonder if I had come too far from home, for in reality I had crossed the state border into Maharashtra!

Quite immediately, the road condition worsened and traffic increased. Stuck at a railway crossing for 15minutes, I  realised for the first time, how hot it was (40 degress Celcius). I was also aware that I was fast approaching a town called Degaloor, which is a major heavy vehicle transit point. This would mean more traffic and bad roads, looking for a way out, I found a mud road through a eucalyptus plantation and instantly, gratefully took it!

To my pleasant surprise, the trail wasn't a short dead end road and I did almost 5 kilometers in the dirt till I could no longer hear the sounds of civilisation. Taking a break in the peaceful wood, with the wind rustling through the leaves and the parakeets singing their happy song, I sit by my bike and write this blog post!

I will head home from here and I will reprioritoze my checklist. I will get done the absolute essentials in the time I have left today. We all need to keep putting those ticks in the checklist, it is an important part of our lives. But what is also important is to break away from routine sometimes and find ourselves in the middle of nowhere. For when our days draw to a close we will not remember the bills we paid, okay I might remember the bills because they are quite a lot! But I will not remember the routine, I will remember the adventures! 

I'll sign off and head home with a little bit of cliched Robert Frost and a picture! Happy Riding! 

 "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep..."