Jan 2011 - Royal Enfield

keep ridingBustling with energy andjostling between the woods wasthe ROYAL ENFIELD RIDERMANIA 2010 event setup thatwaited with a symbolic welcomeextended to us as we rodedownhill into the lap of banners,barricades and loud speakers19th Nov’10 – Day 1 @RM’10 – Goa: Rajat, anotherdear friend who came directlyfrom Pune that morningespecially for the 3 day RMevent, woke me up. At the venue,after picking up our red RiderMania T-shirts and tryingthem on to our best fit, a lot ofphotographing followed. Pics ofthe venue, the logos, the eventsand the T-shirts were taken infrenzy. As the events for the dayunfolded, we had registeredfor all 3 events for the day. Thefigure of 8, slow bike racing andTowing. Infact, we did prettygreat in the ‘figure of 8’. Ourrelay team had Nipun, Varun,Rakesh and Myself and by theend of the contest we missedbeing in the top 3 by a whisker.Hard luck but great fun! Somestupendous music from DJBlackjack kept us punching theair while we showed no signs ofstopping to gurgle those dreampricedpints.20th Nov’10 – Day 2 @RM’10 – Goa: With adrenalinerunning at its peak now, wejumpstarted the next morningwith a lot of plans, determinedto see all of them through. Thiswas to be the most eventfulday for us. The first event of theday at the RM venue was thevery mean Dirt Track racing.Each rider zooming in andtrying to outdo the other onthat unfriendly track was thescene. Some crashed, some spedand some persisted while theonlookers made a hullabaloooutside. The day was to goon, with event after event. Inthe evening we finally endedup at Club IVY at Baga andfrom there on, senses weresent packing away. With lovelydames around us and somesensational and timeless tracksfrom the Rap, Reggae andHouse genres, we set the flooron fire and danced till we’d dropfrom 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Ah, what aparty….!!! Followed by a snack,it was time to crash and so wedid.21st Nov’10 – Day 3 @RM’10 – Goa: The biggestand most awaited ride was tohappen today. THE GROUPRIDE! To ride across Goa withall the participating fellowriders was a thrilling experience.About 200 Royal Enfields of allshapes, sizes and colours withabout 300 participant riders andpillions filled the Goan streetsas we made a single-file convoyacross town. The onlooker’seyeballs popped and sound budswent for a toss with the roar thatour bikes cumulatively made.Surely enough, we attracteda lot of attention, respect andsome envy! We felt like kingsand surely enough, our daywas made. We ventured out forsome shopping after the groupride as we had decided to keepday 3 aside for the same. Beads,T’s, shorts and bandanas…!We bought them all. We cameback to the venue to watch thescintillating rock-show at thevenue till it ended and havingthe last leg of those amazinglypriced beers, we bid adieu to thevenue that gave us the time ofour lives.The ride back home:Monday, the 22nd of Nov.saw us awake and ready (notreally) at 6:00 a.m. to headback homewards. Still veryprominently sleepy, the faceof each rider showed a tingeof resentment at leaving Goaat that hour. But, what’s to bedone is to be done. Refueledand loaded, we set off by 6:30a.m. Yet again, led by Pradeep,we chose a different route fromthe one that we had enduredon the way earlier. NH 17 – no,thank you! NH 4 – oh yeahbaby. After exiting Goa, thechange in route took us via thevery very picturesque AmboliGhats. We swayed at 80kmph,turning and speeding at everystraight patch. The NH 4 was astretch of several kilometers ofpaper smooth highway roads.It was a fast rider’s absolutedream coming true. A haltbefore we ventured out on thatheavenly patch gave us time toprepare for the speed and aimat the next stop only after thenext 120 kms. After a halt takenfor lunch and after getting mybike fixed, what we aimed atwas a perfectly comfortablenight halt at Lonavala. Theroads continued to be lovelyand occasional tunnels addedto the resonation of the thumpresounding and scaring awaythe other scavenging vehicles.We belittled them with ourrevs and poked fun at theirspeed with our 2 wheeled irondemons. It gave us the muchneeded boost to carry onwith beaten and tired bodiesbut with massaged egos. Wetook a break for the night atLonavla and at dinnertime ahealthy conversation about ourindividual professions wenton air and we spoke for 2 goodhours while we had our drinks,gave ourselves reasons to behungry and then at the end ofit went off to hog in the middleof the night. After a heart-fullplatter of various types of food,we called out ‘good night’ toeach other back at the hotel andcrashedTuesday 23rd Nov, we were upand dressed again at 6:00 am,after a short refreshment sessionof chai and all, we zipped off intoa rather eventful day, this time,on the road. As we rode intoMumbai the city was alreadybustling at 8 a.m. in the morningbut we managed to get out ofcity limits well within time andhit the highway to Gujarat. Ah…after 7 days, the highway tohome was just so clearly visibleat this juncture for the 1st time.Next stop was for breakfastwhere we gulped down somefood and some took a quicknap too. Off again in about 30minutes, we were confidentthat we’d make it home today,the farthest destination beingAhmedabad. Finally as eachof us had swept and managedto get to Baroda safely. That’swhere we ate, hugged and bidgood-bye and finally slept.HOme run: 24th Nov 2010,we woke up at leisure and Varunand I zipped to Ahmedabad,the last 110 kms in 1& ½ hours,fully refreshed to narrate theseendless tales of the ride of ourlives to eagerly curious friends.Each picture taken in the trip(almost everyone who hada camera has close to 350+pictures) has a story to tell. Thiscamaraderie won’t die awayso soon for sure. The madnessthat has bestowed us in this tripis beyond compare and is asprecious as the most expensivegems in world. I would like toheartily thank Royal Enfieldfor organizing such a grandevent like Rider Mania 2010 andmaking my first ever trip to Goaso very memorable.10