Well it all started off well, and no nothing bad happened, it ended
well too .... I'm talking about the second FSR on the 4th of March,
2007.
For the uninitiated the FSR is the First Sunday Ride, organised by a
group of like minded people who love their old and out-of-production
bikes(RD-350 and Yezdi Road king), of which I am the only one riding a
Yezdi Roadking.
The objective of the First Sunday Ride, is to get people off their
backsides as Santiago a.k.a Santosh would put it, him being a big
techie "fan" and saying that all techies are in some form of
"corporate comatisis". But in my opinion it's more of a get out of
your state of inertia, that you would suffer throughout the month,
from whatever profession the rider may be in, techies being the
minority here, I might add.
Anyways, enough of my rambling, I must admit I sorta lost the thread in
the last sentence. The Ride started off with Indi landing up at my
place at the unearthly hour of 6:00 am, I was just getting out of the
bath when I heard his bike pull up. I got ready in a minute and pulled
my bike out of the gate and we rode to the Command Hospital Curve on
Airport Road which was the rendezvous point, where Cowboy Satya a.k.a
SRK (naah not Shah Rukh Khan), Kumar a.k.a Hemant a.k.a Screech and
Rajesh(Mr.Mysterious), were patiently waiting for us.
>From there it was an smooth ride to Top Gear which was the rendezvous
point for all, BK, Mangesh, Srikant were already waiting for us there.
We parked the bikes and repaired to the Darshini for some overdose of
coffee, while waiting for the others to arrive. We were graced by a
surprise visit by Paapu on his Suzuki monster, who decided to ride out
to Devahalli and parts thereabout.
In due time everyone landed up and we decided move, BK suggested that
we hit the NICE road instead of taking the Mysore Road, and join the
Mysore Road after Kengeri. The bikes all roared into life and we hit
it, with BK leading the pack we headed on to Kanakapura Road. It was
nice to head out of the city, in the calm of the morning, with the
early morning chill still on our faces. Out onto Kanakapura Road, past
Metro and about 6-7 Km.s later, just opp a Petrol Bunk on the left, we
had to take a right to get onto the NICE Road.
The NICE Road is a speed-freaks heaven, straight as an arrow and
smooth. I opened the throttle on the this road and cleared my Roadie's
throat, and pretty soon was making quite a racket, SRK (disclaimer:
not Shah Rukh Khan) was riding behind me got tired of the roar of the
Roadie and quietly chugged ahead of me. We all reached the point where
the NICE Road meets the Bangalore Mysore highway and started off
towards the first pit stop which was the Cafe Coffee Day, just before
Maddur.
The ride was good and uneventful, I soon was tailing the pack and
riding along peacefully, we passed all the villages and towns along
the highway. I guess after the last FSR where we did the back roads,
this ride was a li'l bit boring being on the Highway all the time. I
was starting to get a li'l craving for a "ciggi" when I just reached
the Cafe Coffee and saw the gang on the other side of the Road waving
out to me, I slowed down and pulled up to join the gang.
Santosh was missing and eventually he pulled up, explaining that he
had some mechanical problem and he had get it fixed before he joined
us. We all went in for breakfast at Indradhanush, the veg restaurant
behind the Cafe Coffee Day. As we sat down, Haren pulled up on his
Bullet and joined us, increasing our tribe to the stipulated "dirty"
dozen.
We ordered an assortment of "single-idly vada" and normal idly vada
and of course Indi had to be different and ordered 3 vadas, to boost
up his cholesterol levels. Santosh had preceeded this by ordering
Kesari bath, to soothe his sweet craving, which was too sweet.This was
followed by the inevitable cup of coffee, this being the third coffee
of the day for me. By this time the lineup of the bikes parked outside
had attracted a lot of attention from the tourists who had stopped for
breakfast. They were admiring the bikes and taking photos, the most
admired bikes were Harsha's BMW 650, SRK's(read disclaimer) XR 600 and
Purshottam's Kawasaki ZZ4, though I'd like to concede that there were
a few admiring glances towards my Roadie too.
We all started up our bikes, we just couldn't stand all the
admiration, we had to run away, except that I strongly suspect Santosh
was telling all the tourists to get off their asses :-), before
joining us. We rode off towards Maddur and the Borapura turn-off
towards the left, I was riding with BK and Haren, we must have sounded
like the "Symphony of Destruction", what with the roar of my Roadie,
the thump-thump of the Bullet and the very muted purr of BK's RD-350.
Just as we reached the turn-off, my Roadie clattered and clashed and
fell silent and I rolled up to the waiting bunch. I was pretty sure
the bike had seized and was already planning to get it up on a truck
and transport it back to Bangalore, and then with the encouragement of
Indi along with some passers-by, I tried starting the bike. The bike
after a few kicks, roared back to life, well that was a relief, I
started riding slowly followed by Indi and Santosh and we reached the
Farm.
The Farm was the idyllic setting with the Farmhouse and coconut trees
and12 roaring bikes pulling up. We were welcomed by Baba and his
father, who was immediately inspecting all the bikes and selecting
which one to ride, he eventually chose Purshottam's Kawasaki
speedster. We relaxed on the Farm for about a half hour during which
we had some delicious tender coconut, just off the tree and were
regaled by stories of past bikes that uncle had ridden, Matchless,
Norton and Triumph figured mainly.
We then decided to do Stage 1 of the K-1000 dirt section, and then
chill out. We started off on the Dirt track with Harsha and Purshottam
on Beamer and Baba and Srikanth on the RD, with BK leading the pack
and were immediately covered in dust, Satya and Harsha were freaking
out on their off-roaders roared off ahead of the pack. Eventually we
all finished the Stage 1, with the curious looks of the trackside
onlookers at the dusty bikers.
We rode back to the start-up point for the most important part of any
FSR(naah just kidding), the constitutional beer-session. We stopped
and realized the the Dirty Dozen as we had christened ourself had to
be renamed as the "Dusty Dozen"* (Copyright SRK: read disclaimer
again :-) ) . It was dusty, I mean, Indi had blond eyelashes at the
end of it.
It was decided that we would chill out in the coconut and arecanut
grove behind the Farm and the beers had to procured, and we all, very
democratically I must say, elected Indi for the daunting task ahead,
which he very bravely agreed to.
There was a "jhamkaana" almost the size of a tennis court sent from
the Farm house, and we all proceeded to repose on it waiting for the
chilled beer. It was fantastic sitting in the grove away from the
hustle and bustle of the city, the noise, pollution, traffic, stress
etc.etc. that's a major part of our daily grind, and yakking with the
old gang and making new friends. Pretty soon Indi rolled up in Baba's
Indigo with the beers and we got right down to it.
It was nice with old rally stories being swapped, bike stories with
Harsha regaling one and all, Omi was sorely missed being held up at
his Harohalli farm. Eventually the beers were all quaffed down and
sadly it was time to head out onto the highway again, the afternoon
sun was at it's zenith and I on a slow roast inside my leather jacket.
Anyways I'm tired of typing, haven't written this much in a long time,
thought I'd add my Rs.0.02 for this FSR.
Thanks a ton all you guys for being there and make it happen, notably
BK, Baba, SRK(read disclaimer), Santosh and everyone else. Looking
forward to the next FSR.
As usual it was a great experience and it was nice meeting like minded
people who love motorcycles and motorcycling for what they are, till
next time then, Adios Amigos.
Cheers,
Surdeep
Well it all started off well, and no nothing bad happened, it ended
well too .... I'm talking about the second FSR on the 4th of March,
2007.
For the uninitiated the FSR is the First Sunday Ride, organised by a
group of like minded people who love their old and out-of-production
bikes(RD-350 and Yezdi Road king), of which I am the only one riding a
Yezdi Roadking.
The objective of the First Sunday Ride, is to get people off their
backsides as Santiago a.k.a Santosh would put it, him being a big
techie "fan" and saying that all techies are in some form of
"corporate comatisis". But in my opinion it's more of a get out of
your state of inertia, that you would suffer throughout the month,
from whatever profession the rider may be in, techies being the
minority here, I might add.
Anyways, enough of my rambling, I must admit I sorta lost the thread in
the last sentence. The Ride started off with Indi landing up at my
place at the unearthly hour of 6:00 am, I was just getting out of the
bath when I heard his bike pull up. I got ready in a minute and pulled
my bike out of the gate and we rode to the Command Hospital Curve on
Airport Road which was the rendezvous point, where Cowboy Satya a.k.a
SRK (naah not Shah Rukh Khan), Kumar a.k.a Hemant a.k.a Screech and
Rajesh(Mr.Mysterious), were patiently waiting for us.
>From there it was an smooth ride to Top Gear which was the rendezvous
point for all, BK, Mangesh, Srikant were already waiting for us there.
We parked the bikes and repaired to the Darshini for some overdose of
coffee, while waiting for the others to arrive. We were graced by a
surprise visit by Paapu on his Suzuki monster, who decided to ride out
to Devahalli and parts thereabout.
In due time everyone landed up and we decided move, BK suggested that
we hit the NICE road instead of taking the Mysore Road, and join the
Mysore Road after Kengeri. The bikes all roared into life and we hit
it, with BK leading the pack we headed on to Kanakapura Road. It was
nice to head out of the city, in the calm of the morning, with the
early morning chill still on our faces. Out onto Kanakapura Road, past
Metro and about 6-7 Km.s later, just opp a Petrol Bunk on the left, we
had to take a right to get onto the NICE Road.
The NICE Road is a speed-freaks heaven, straight as an arrow and
smooth. I opened the throttle on the this road and cleared my Roadie's
throat, and pretty soon was making quite a racket, SRK (disclaimer:
not Shah Rukh Khan) was riding behind me got tired of the roar of the
Roadie and quietly chugged ahead of me. We all reached the point where
the NICE Road meets the Bangalore Mysore highway and started off
towards the first pit stop which was the Cafe Coffee Day, just before
Maddur.
The ride was good and uneventful, I soon was tailing the pack and
riding along peacefully, we passed all the villages and towns along
the highway. I guess after the last FSR where we did the back roads,
this ride was a li'l bit boring being on the Highway all the time. I
was starting to get a li'l craving for a "ciggi" when I just reached
the Cafe Coffee and saw the gang on the other side of the Road waving
out to me, I slowed down and pulled up to join the gang.
Santosh was missing and eventually he pulled up, explaining that he
had some mechanical problem and he had get it fixed before he joined
us. We all went in for breakfast at Indradhanush, the veg restaurant
behind the Cafe Coffee Day. As we sat down, Haren pulled up on his
Bullet and joined us, increasing our tribe to the stipulated "dirty"
dozen.
We ordered an assortment of "single-idly vada" and normal idly vada
and of course Indi had to be different and ordered 3 vadas, to boost
up his cholesterol levels. Santosh had preceeded this by ordering
Kesari bath, to soothe his sweet craving, which was too sweet.This was
followed by the inevitable cup of coffee, this being the third coffee
of the day for me. By this time the lineup of the bikes parked outside
had attracted a lot of attention from the tourists who had stopped for
breakfast. They were admiring the bikes and taking photos, the most
admired bikes were Harsha's BMW 650, SRK's(read disclaimer) XR 600 and
Purshottam's Kawasaki ZZ4, though I'd like to concede that there were
a few admiring glances towards my Roadie too.
We all started up our bikes, we just couldn't stand all the
admiration, we had to run away, except that I strongly suspect Santosh
was telling all the tourists to get off their asses :-), before
joining us. We rode off towards Maddur and the Borapura turn-off
towards the left, I was riding with BK and Haren, we must have sounded
like the "Symphony of Destruction", what with the roar of my Roadie,
the thump-thump of the Bullet and the very muted purr of BK's RD-350.
Just as we reached the turn-off, my Roadie clattered and clashed and
fell silent and I rolled up to the waiting bunch. I was pretty sure
the bike had seized and was already planning to get it up on a truck
and transport it back to Bangalore, and then with the encouragement of
Indi along with some passers-by, I tried starting the bike. The bike
after a few kicks, roared back to life, well that was a relief, I
started riding slowly followed by Indi and Santosh and we reached the
Farm.
The Farm was the idyllic setting with the Farmhouse and coconut trees
and12 roaring bikes pulling up. We were welcomed by Baba and his
father, who was immediately inspecting all the bikes and selecting
which one to ride, he eventually chose Purshottam's Kawasaki
speedster. We relaxed on the Farm for about a half hour during which
we had some delicious tender coconut, just off the tree and were
regaled by stories of past bikes that uncle had ridden, Matchless,
Norton and Triumph figured mainly.
We then decided to do Stage 1 of the K-1000 dirt section, and then
chill out. We started off on the Dirt track with Harsha and Purshottam
on Beamer and Baba and Srikanth on the RD, with BK leading the pack
and were immediately covered in dust, Satya and Harsha were freaking
out on their off-roaders roared off ahead of the pack. Eventually we
all finished the Stage 1, with the curious looks of the trackside
onlookers at the dusty bikers.
We rode back to the start-up point for the most important part of any
FSR(naah just kidding), the constitutional beer-session. We stopped
and realized the the Dirty Dozen as we had christened ourself had to
be renamed as the "Dusty Dozen"* (Copyright SRK: read disclaimer
again :-) ) . It was dusty, I mean, Indi had blond eyelashes at the
end of it.
It was decided that we would chill out in the coconut and arecanut
grove behind the Farm and the beers had to procured, and we all, very
democratically I must say, elected Indi for the daunting task ahead,
which he very bravely agreed to.
There was a "jhamkaana" almost the size of a tennis court sent from
the Farm house, and we all proceeded to repose on it waiting for the
chilled beer. It was fantastic sitting in the grove away from the
hustle and bustle of the city, the noise, pollution, traffic, stress
etc.etc. that's a major part of our daily grind, and yakking with the
old gang and making new friends. Pretty soon Indi rolled up in Baba's
Indigo with the beers and we got right down to it.
It was nice with old rally stories being swapped, bike stories with
Harsha regaling one and all, Omi was sorely missed being held up at
his Harohalli farm. Eventually the beers were all quaffed down and
sadly it was time to head out onto the highway again, the afternoon
sun was at it's zenith and I on a slow roast inside my leather jacket.
Anyways I'm tired of typing, haven't written this much in a long time,
thought I'd add my Rs.0.02 for this FSR.
Thanks a ton all you guys for being there and make it happen, notably
BK, Baba, SRK(read disclaimer), Santosh and everyone else. Looking
forward to the next FSR.
As usual it was a great experience and it was nice meeting like minded
people who love motorcycles and motorcycling for what they are, till
next time then, Adios Amigos.
Cheers,
Surdeep
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