Of rains, trails and garage days...

The rains have set in early this monsoon and like every year, have degraded a lot of highways and have had similar effects to the chances of any significant long distance riding.

So the last month has been spent doing a lot of mud trail riding, on a number of short distance rides. Nothing like blazing along wet trails and kicking up some mud! On one particular ride, I went for a long trek after offroading deep into a forest as far as the bike could take me, got hopelessly lost and drenched in the pouring rain for 4 hours before being able to find the spot where I left my bike, only to find the trail I had rode obliterated by rain. After fishtailing in the mud and darkness for another hour, I gained the highway, a cold and a valuble lesson in the importance of marking your surroundings in a forest. 

(Photos are before the rains hit ofcouse)

Other rides have been exploring new trails, a few long detours from work and fishing trips that have taken me quite close to many waterbodies around the city (offroading ofcourse), The sturdy royal enfield being my prefered companion. I must comment on the amazing versatility of this beast, neither is it an off road bike, nor am I an off road rider. Neither does it have ramped up shocks nor big button tires, but still it has taken me everywhere, through every weather condition that could be thrown at us, without a single hiccup. 

As the rains come down, a biker can always put his time to good use by fixing up his bikes. Adventures are great, but sometimes the safest place to be when the rain is relentless is in your garage. Good time to give all those nagging issues a look and probably even a fix. 

I had an issue with the Yezdi's crank a couple of months ago, so I took the oppurtunity to pull apart the bike, change the engine bearings and oil seals, and get the crank aligned. 

Also, with all the punishment I had put it through over the last year (20,000 odd kms) the Royal Enfield's fork cones and bearings needed changing, and the brakes and sprokets needed attention.

The Jawa was least attention seaking, with a spark plug change being her only demand.

This gave me many long hours in the garage, and an oppurtunity to admire and fall in love with the machines that have kept me in awe, all over again. 

As the monsoon continues, Ill leave you with a few pictures, and until next time, build hard, ride safe and don't forget to keep em brakes dry!!

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..."

Three is crowd??

No more bikes this year! Let's see if that resolution holds! Well it should atleast until i can figure out more garage space! To answer the question, three is definately not a crowd, in fact its just getting started! A biker can never really have enough bikes, having said that, i hope i stay true to my resolution for this year!

Garage Diaries

As i surely must have mentioned in previous posts, i enjoy ( and believe all true bikers should ) spending as much time with my bike in the garage, as i would spend riding it along a highway. For me, there is something alluring about fixing your own bike. Maybe it is the feeling of being the creator, having the power to give life. Maybe it is the feeling of satisfaction of knowning and being able to do something that most people wouldn't be expected to know and do. Maybe it's the pushing of physical limits. Maybe it's the mystery of playing detective, hunting for clues to solve that little rattle you hear when you shift to third. Maybe its the satisfaction of finding a loose nut or a whithered wired before it caused a breakdown. Or maybe its just the feeling of riding your bike after your done and thinking "wow, it feels much better, i made that difference". Motorcycling has always been about freedom and giving a person control of a moment. I think garage days really bind into that spirit.

So when my friends sometimes taunt me about weekends "wasted" indoors in my garage, i always smile and think to myself, "I wouldn't have it any other way".

Time Travel

As you would have figured from the name of my blog, in not much of a pack rider. But every once in a while i love sharing a ride with a biker who loves to ride as much as i do! So when a 1973 Ideal Jawa and a 2015 KTM RC200 hit the streets together, i could tell by the stares and turned heads that it was quite a unique sight!

A timeless classic and a futuristic mean machine, with 42 years of motorcycling legacy between them, cruising along the curves and bends of Lanco Hills.

The ride made me think about how the machine i so love has evolved over generations. And how some species refuse to go extinct! 

Rogue night rider...

Can't sleep? Need to think? There's only one solution, ride!

Campanionship

Over the years my bikes have kept me going, in more ways than one. They have been companions that have never let me down, they have carried me home on days I couldn't carry myself, we have spent amazing moments conquering bends on highways, hills, valleys, rocks and rivers. We have taken tumbles together, gotten up together and moved on together. We have spent so much time together on the highways, and in the garage. We have grown older together, raced together, tried to catch the sunset and outran the rain. Human companionship is fickle, but a bike is always there with you till the very end.

Old school

Took the jawa out for a spin today, cant get over the way this 40year old bike handles on the highway! Amazing power, great handling and the unmatched elegance of a true timeless classic!

Jikov Carburetor for Jawa 250

Finally got my hands on an original Jikov, a czech made carburetor for My 1973 Jawa 250. Cant wait to fit it on the bike and enjoy the changed performance!!

Weekend rainy weather riding

Jawa before and after

Building the jawa

Took almost 3 months of long nights at the garage to complete this beauty: