Sunday biking

In our daily  lives, we tend to get absorbed into every nitty gritty, that we forget to make some "me time". I had heard and read about people taking bike rides but had not made the time myself.

A casual conversation with Hitesh and Salil over drinks and dinner one night; out of nowhere the idea of a morning bike trip to watch the sun rise at Mahabalipuram was up in the air. No sooner was it up, we grabbed it and set a date - 17 Feb (D - day). It was a Sunday, perfect, we could rent a couple of Enfields and yeah, it was not a long trip, (80km to and fro) , a few hours and it could work. Salil already had his classic 350 so we only needed 2 bikes on rent. The cogs were turning. Next day, I marked my calendar and sent the invite to Hitesh and Salil; promptly accepted.

Did our enthusiasm wane?

I had been travelling and busy with work (more blogs to come on those trips) and was wondering if things had kind of died down. I had not even checked if we could rent bikes, what rates they were available, if at all they were available...

A quick check online and there is a bike rental called www.chennaimotorcyclerental.com some checking, calls made and all my queries answered. Did they rent bikes? Did they have Enfields? Affordable? All the boxes ticked.

A week before D -day, we revisted the plan and yes, we were all for it with another addition - Alekh was keen to join as well. So now we needed 3 bikes.

Wow, the enthusiasm hadn't waned, it had fueled. I checked the next day and found that we couldn't get bikes on rent as the agency was all out. We could get only 1 bike on rent.

Were we about to call it off?

Well, we had so many options still to explore. There were a few people I knew who had Enfields. I approached them and asked if we could rent thier bikes for a day. They were more than happy to rent out thier bikes. I think there is something about Enfield owners, somewhere they feel guilty about not taking thier bike on a long ride. So, hand shakes and a couple of bikes secured.

The trip was back on...24 hours to go

Four guys, four bikes. A thunderbird 500, a thunderbird 350x, classic 350 and a classic 500. We collected our bikes and ensured they had enough fuel, air pressure etc...better safe than sorry.

D - day

17 Feb, 530am - we planned to meet at 530am at OMR and ECR link road. Perfect, no delays, we were off.
My bike was a chrome classic 500. I was riding a bike after so long, so I was very mindful of what I was doing. Was I sitting right, was I putting the right gear, was I speeding? I was riding after a long time and well, like riding a cycle, you never forget to ride a motorbike. Under the very distinct thump, thump, thump of the bike, I was getting more confident and started to relax. I think it was around the half way point, that I started smiling. The road hugs the coast and you start to notice the sea and the horizon beyond, the sky in shades of grey mixed with streaks of blue, grey clouds with an orange outline...Daybreak. shortly after, we reached the shore beach at Mahabalipuram and just spend some time...doing nothing in particular, so very important that you find a way to be busy doing nothing, highly recommended.

Breakfast - we had originally planned to have breakfast at Mahabalipuram but I think we were more hungry to ride than eat. So we all agreed to ride back to the city and catch breakfast at The Tryst cafe at Neelankarai.

The ride back

Thump, thump, thump...by now there is no more hesitation, I was feeling like a veteran, an urban cowboy who had been on bike trips before. Something had changed though...I had changed. Over the years, your machoism (self defined of course) takes a back seat, you grow up and start to get more respectful...of yourself, your motorbike, the road, fellow travellers, traffic rules, pedestrians. In short, you finally start seeing the fine line between sense and sensibility.

A tryst with Tryst

When you plan to have breakfast, always good to check the operating hours of the cafe. Something we did not do. Tryst was closed (it opens at 9), We settled for Vasant Bhavan next door. Polar opposite to the Tryst in cuisine but we didn't care ( Indians enjoy scrambled eggs on toast and masala dosa with equal relish)

Future plans

We spoke about future trips but nothing definitive which is a good thing. I wasn't ready to commit to another ride so soon. I know I want to do more rides but I wanted to internalize first.

A dialogue from the movie Gully Boy came to mind - don't make your dreams fit in with your reality, make your reality fit in with your dreams.

So yeah, who says dreams have got to be huge, full of money, big cars, bikes, materialistic, gigantic? Small dreams, wishes and fulfilment, pretty soon your cup filleth and runneth over. 

I am defintely going to go on another bike ride (longer one for sure), but you have to make it happen and not force it to happen. But, it will happen and I will write about it. That's a promise.