Let me take you to a ride where five guys confirmed, four guys started but only three of us made it–after facing 300 troubles on the way.
One Saturday, I was sitting with a hopeless evening to come, and a weekend containing no exciting prospects? Now that was sad, but my mind was at work to make it really special. So I called my friends and planned a ride. Five of them immediately confirmed, and the meeting time decided was 11:30 p.m. We scheduled to hit the roads to Lonavale and spend a man-and-machine night out at Tigers Point and camp there for the night. Then we would return in the morning. The plan was fixed, and I was excited, not knowing the consequences.
Starting point was the same at the “Center One Mall,” in Vashi. Kamal [Royal Enfield Bullet Std. 350cc] and Behzad [Royal Enfield Bullet Std. 350cc] were from Andheri, which comes on the way for me. So I, Viral [Honda Unicorn 150cc] decided to meet them at Marol and head to the starting point where Gaurav [Bajaj Avenger 180cc] and Rakesh [Hero Honda Karizma 215cc] would meet us.
Starting was smooth till the trio [Me, Behzad and Kamal] reached Mankhurd [approximately 30 mins from the starting point] where Kamal got a call from home saying his wife's health had been bad and that he should come home. So he turned back. He had to, right? No complaints. From here I and Behzad continued to the starting point where we saw Gaurav alone. Now where was Rakesh? He had cancelled the plan at the last moment. But maybe some genuine problems, so again no complaints. I, Behzad and Gaurav were not going to cancel this ride for no one so we kicked off for a restaurant in Belapur, a suburb in New Bombay. The ride was smooth with a very light rain shower and cool winds. Having our dinner, we decided to hit the road immediately as it was already past 1AM.
The rains hit hard and made visibility very tough. As we started cruising on the highway, with no street lights, it got rougher. And the truck driving fools made it tougher for us by using the high beams and refusing to put them down. But we are used to it, in the dry weather, so just a little adjustment got me and Gaurav comfy and Behzad was following me. Everything was awesome, the weather, the road and the ride till a patch blindly got beneath out tyres. The pothole was so bad that my front number plate hit the mud guard. Somehow getting control over the bike and facing a truck coming in the opposite lane, again with its high beam on. I applied the brakes and stood still with my middle finger up in the air for the fool.
Why don't they care to switch that high beam monster off? I have no idea whatsoever. Getting my patience back, I started hitting the road as I realized that I was left behind. Ripping along the black roads over 80, cleaning the visor of my helmet with my muddy gloves and somehow managing to get a handle of the road, I neared the other two riders. After this, Gaurav was leading, Behzad in the middle and I was following. Thankfully, me and Gaurav had blinkers on which made our life easy.
Later on as we reached the beautiful city of Lonavale and took a stretch break as Behzad had called Gaurav to tell him that his engine seized due to over heating. A Royal Enfield Bullet is a 350cc machine with an Iron engine. It's a king on the road but needs a lot of care, unlike other bikes with the latest technology. So just smoking and stretching we saw Behzad coming in. He needed a break as well, so we just freaked a little here and there for a while and the moved on.
As we were about to enter the city, Gaurav pulled his bike over and told me Behzad had fallen off his 180 kg machine. With no earth beneath my feet, I managed to take a U turn and rip behind Gaurav to see Behzad had fallen off-road, at least 1.5 ft down. We immediately parked our bikes and got down to him just to see the hot iron engine had fallen on his leg and burnt it badly. It took all three of us to haul that machine back to its stand and then we lead Behzad to a place where he sat down all trembling.
I rushed down to my bike and grabbed the First Aid kit and luckily it had a cream for burns and wounds. As Behzad applied it I lit a cigarette and inspected his bike. It looked fine so tried to start it, to see if it is going to make it back to Mumbai. At first it did hesitate to start but then later it gave out a nice thump and started off. Now it was time for Behzad to give a thump and start, so we'd know he's fine.
He got up from his resting place, and we moved on to a nearby tea stall and settled there for a while. I searched my First Aid kit for a crape bandage as Behzad was complaining of an ankle pain. I got it as well and tied it around his left ankle. After a while and a couple of smokes, we were ready to hit the road back to Mumbai. We decided that we would not cross the speed limit of 60 kmh and would stick on to the first lane with blinkers on.
After riding like that for 30 minutes we took a break where we got up with Behzad and made sure he was fine. Then I and Behzad teamed up as Andheri is on the way for me and Gaurav ripped to his place.
As we entered the city by sunrise, I just started to get a little relaxed when my rear tyre punctured. On the side of the road not knowing what to do, I pulled my rear wheel out and got Behzad settled on the side of the road. I took his Bullet, loaded my rear wheel on to it and hit the road in search of a puncture repair shop.
It wasn't hard to find one and they repaired by flat tire. As soon as it was done, the mechanic was kind enough to offer me help by coming to my bike and fitting the wheel for me. I was relived as if a load of 100kg was taken off my shoulder. It then became very easy.
We hit the road praying that no more trouble hit us and made it to Andheri after a continuous ride of more than 30 minutes and after seeing off Behzad, I reached home in another 15 minutes or so.
And here I am, straight on my computer sharing my experience with you before it fades off. Hope you liked my company and would join me in the next one as well.
–Viral Thakkar
vipriya enterprises
