Dereliction of Duty

Every time I'm riding on a fly-over, the speed limits make me laugh. I can't exceed 30kmph on a fly-over? Really? Why'd you build one then? Speed limits on Indian roads are unbelievable. I find it preposterous that on the excellent Pune-Bombay expressway, the maximum speed I'm allowed to travel at is 80kmph.

I have it on good authority that the expressway is good enough to travel at over 200kmph. It's only around 220kmph that the first signs of vibrations begin to appear. Why exactly is it then, that an 8 lane express way limits your speed to 80kmph? I regularly do 80kmph on city roads, in the day time. And it's not rash. Fast and rash are different. The problem is actually one of complete apathy on the part of the traffic police authorities.

The procedure to get a licence is rife with corruption. I'm sure half the people on road today paid their way into a licence. Those who got a licence properly (like me) will agree that the procedure is laughable. You do not need any road sense whatsoever to get a licence. Therefore, you have blathering idiots on road, who have no sense of traffic, machine or ability. These idiots are the ones who ride/drive rash and kill people.

What's the solution? Revamp the entire system. Make it mandatory for everyone to get their licences reissued after a proper exam that tests most aspects of city driving. Sure it'll be tedious and inconvenient, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. In Dubai, issue of a licence is met with a party and wild celebrations. Here, it's nowhere as hard to get.

But what is it that the police does? Nothing. And the worst part is, they wash their hands off all accountability by setting laughable speed limits. The moment someone dies, it wasn't because the fool shouldn't have been driving in the first place, it's because he was overspeeding!? The police transfers all blame to the victims of the system, and merrily go about their work (whatever is left after the shirking is complete) .

If you were to compare our speed limits to the US, you'll find quite a contrast. Speed limits on internal roads in the states are around 30mph. That's about 50kmph. And our traffic police, in all their glory, sets a speed limit of 30kmph on a fly-over!? When will they learn that the solution is not to absolve the system of responsibility by blaming the idiots who made it through the system? The solution is to make sure that idiots aren't allowed to be on the road in the first place. The benefits would eventually outweigh the obstacles. Our roads will be safer and faster. Fewer people will die. Admittedly, it'll be a pain to get our licences ratified again. There will be a major public outcry against it (like when helmets and seat belts were made compulsory). The real reason is not the trouble involved. The real trouble is that most people will fail. But it must happen. I'm willing to subject myself to another test. As long as it does not involve wheelies and stoppies, I'm sure I'll clear it.

I'm looking forward to your opinions.

Pastime

I have just realised that I have developed a silly pastime when I'm riding. I tend to aggressively overtake guys with their girlfriends pillion behind them to see if they will try to return the manoeuvre. Childish social experiment? Yes. Fun? Absolutely!

Don't Panic!

With that reference to the lord of humour, I'm going to talk today, about braking on wet roads. A lot of people tend to fall while riding on wet roads. This has a lot to do with the manner in which the brakes are applied on a two wheeler. Most people believe that on wet roads you must forgo the use of the front brake and use only the rear brake. This, is a very risky thing to do. I'm going to explain, with the help of a little bit of mechanics, how brakes should be used in the wet (or even dry).

Before we get to the braking though, a few general tips. The water on the road reduces the friction between the road surface and your tyres. While riding on a road with a little bit of water (i.e. not standing water), the water will tend to reduce the friction (or grip) available to you by about 15%. So, for starters, ride about 20% slower than you would on dry roads. Secondly, maintain distance between the vehicle in front of you. On a dry road, I remember rearset saying somewhere that you should maintain a distance to the vehicle in front of you such that you can see the tyres of that vehicle. On a wet road, extending this distance further, as much as a car length is a good idea. Additionally, avoid riding on anything that is not tar/concrete, i.e. painted signs, tiles, metal manhole covers, etc. That 5% difference in grip may be the difference between you being on the bike and on the ground.

Now, on to the braking part. Consider a two wheeler travelling on a stretch of road,


In the picture above, imagine the long straight line to be the body of your two wheeler. Consider four frictional forces in that figure. Fft and Ffb are the frictional forces at the tyre-road interface and brake respectively for the front wheel. Similarly, Frt and and Frb are the frictional forces at the tyre-road interface and brake respectively for the rear wheel.

In order to slow down the bike, without causing a wheel to lock up, the frictional force at the tyre-road interface must exceed the force applied by the brake at all times. As long as Fft exceeds Ffb, the frictional force at the tyre-road interface will force the tyre to keep rotating. If Ffb becomes higher that Fft, the tyre will simply stop rotating and lock up. This would imply that you should apply equal, but limited pressure on both brakes to brake safely. There is another factor though. The moment you start braking, the body of the bike tends to lurch forward due to inertia. This motion compresses the front shock absorbers and allows the rear shocks to expand. So, once you start braking, the picture changes to this,

Shocks are not perfect, and therefore will transmit force (even though they're supposed to absorb it). Therefore, you now have a state where there is a greater load on the front wheel than there is on the rear wheel. This means that Fft now greatly exceeds Frt. It is easy now to lock up the rear wheel, and correspondingly hard to lock up the front wheel, because the limiting values of Ffb and Frb have also changed.

This is the reason why bikes always have a stronger brake on the front wheel. The explanation above holds for dry and wet weather. The correct method for braking therefore, is to start braking with only the rear brake. Once weight transfer to the front begins, slowly start using the front brake, and reduce the pressure on the rear brake. This ensures that you're less likely to lock up either wheel.

Don't Panic
If you understood what I just said, you should be less likely to lock up the front wheel. Rear wheel lock ups are still possible. If you do lock up the rear, whatever you do, don't panic. Because the front wheel still isn't locked, chances are that you'll still be going in a straight line. Gently release the rear brake, more often than not, it'll start rotating again.
Always be prepared to fall. There's no technique in the world that can ensure that you'll never fall. You WILL fall, all you can do is to reduce the frequency. When you are open to the possibility of falling, if you do fall, you'll probably get up, pick up the bike and start riding again. If you believe that you can never fall, when you do, you'll be too stunned to do anything about it.

That does it for my first biking techniques post. Feedback on whether or not that was coherent and understandable is welcome.

I'm a mid 60s guy

These are words of Enthu. Uttered on the way back from Nasrapur. For a little background, Nasrapur is a village on NH4. We have an active Astronomy club, and we had decided to go to Nasrapur for a star party. Enthu and I went to the site a couple of days earlier to perform a recce of the site, to ensure it's good for our purposes.

We left Pune at 6:40 PM, and got there at around 8:30 PM. Most of that time was wasted in the city. Once we got out on to the highway, we were doing a comfortable average of over 60kmph, touching 85 odd occasionally.

On the way back, I offered to let Enthu ride. He tells me, "I'm not a big fan of speed... I'm a mid 60s guy. You're pretty confident on the bike- when you took that banked turn at 78, 'gote kapaalat geli hoti' for lack of a better phrase." I told him that the bike inspires such confidence.

A push of the starter and a minute later, the mid 60s guy is cruising along at 75kmph and taking banked turns at 80. And touching speeds around 90kmph.

We did in excess of 70kmph on the highway that night. That's a pretty impressive figure on Indian roads. And the rider was riding this particular bike for the first time.

Once we've stopped he tells me, "This bike is fantastic! It just feels so assured and planted to the road! I've ridden many bikes, and never felt confident enough to cross 60kmph for too long a time."

I agree. The Apache RTR is one of the finest pieces of engineering to come out of an Indian company. Too bad the seat is bad, and too bad the engine vibes a bit. But you can't have it all. I'd say the brilliant engineers at Hosur can take a bow.

Dam it!

Many years from now, one rule will have been added to the book of unsaid biking rules - Never trust people with the initials ADB (I'm looking at you Abba). We had planned to go to Lonavla yesterday (on bikes obviously) - Abba, the fair Encke and me (Falconer being away). And then the unholy baba pulls out on saturday evening citing "fatigue", once again leaving Encke and me to do all the biking. Like I've said before, too is two few (err...?). Thanks to Abba, we had to drop the Lonavla plan (and had to imagine Falconer with an evil laugh saying 'there can be no chocolate fudge in Lonavla without me! moohahaha!'). Despite Abba's best efforts though, we did go for a ride Sunday morning. The journey was cut short only to Khadakwasla dam, seeing as only two people were going.
We were supposed to meet at Rajaram bridge at 07:15. I got a little late and reached there at 07:30. And there was nobody there (of course - nobody I know - DOH). So out of politeness, I wait for ten minutes for the fair Encke... nobody turns up. I finally called her in ten minutes time. The transcript:

*ring ring*
*cut*
me: (thought) She must almost be here - so the dropped call.
a minute later,
*ring ring*
Me: Hello
Encke (groggy): Uh hello... I just woke up...
Me (incredulous): Whaa?
Encke (still groggy): Uh yeah... I'm sorry... I'll be there in fifteen minutes
Me (still incredulous): Okay... see you in a bit
Ten minutes later, she's at the bridge
Encke (still a little groggy, but looking very cheerful): Hi!! I'm sorry- I got up late!
Me: Er okay...
Encke: You remember those gloves I bought...
Me: Yes...
Encke: They're both for the same hand!! I have to wear them one correct and one reversed!
Me: *speechless*

After we finally got going, it took us barely one half of an hour to get to the dam. She's been reservoir side, but not the dam side, so we decide to go dam side this time around (the third time for me). We came across this really weird place where there were chucks of wall lying around a large meadow... I kid you not!

She tells me to go stand close to one of the wall remnants for a pic,
Encke: Why don't you go stand close to that piece of wall, I'll take a pic
Me (tentative): It's all slushy and mucky there... I'm not too sure
Encke: Oh stop being a wimp. Just go.
Me: Ehehehe there's water there... not a very good idea...
Encke: Gah. Here, take the camera, I'll go.
Me (ungallantly stands aside): Okay.
Encke: It is rather slushy and mucky.
Me (I told you so tone coming to prominence) : And there's water - can't tell how deep it is...
Encke: Worse still- can't say what's in it!
She thankfully drops the idea.

We then walk about a bit more and find a dry approach to that wall remnant and another. She's a climber, I'm a guy who takes pics - guess what we did. She climbed the wall remnant and I took pics...

On the second wall remnant she climbs, she tells me,
Encke: Hey! this one's easy, you can climb this one...
Me (warily): Are you sure?
Encke: Yes!!

She gets down and then guides me up the wall remnant. She then climbs back up with a tripod. We then take a couple of cringeworthy pics *cringes*.

(The author would like to point out that this cringeworthy pic was taken at the same point that Encke was standing on in the previous pic)

We then went up a little further up - to NDA... Took a few pics there. A fun ride, like the first two to Khadakwasla were! And the next time, we ARE going to Lonavla Abba, with or without you.

Rest of the pics can be found here. I would've taken the credit for these pics (Encke took most of them) but then again, Encke's a comet. Comets are hot, glowing balls of fire (oh the melodrama!). Being struck by one isn't my idea of a good time. So yes- the credit for most of these (rather nice) photos goes to Encke. Like I said, the next stop is Lonavla.

How to use a bike on a date

Ahoy there! It's been a while eh? Well, back again to try and amuse you, I am.

So this article, is a collection of thoughts of things that you could do with a bike on a date. I'll be talking about how different bits of a bike can be used on a date. For the guys, take this with a heap of salt (the author's never tried any of this). For the girls, if you notice your guy following this post like a textbook on your date, you know what to do (or do you?). So here we go:

1. The headlamp [L]
It could help you get her attention before you're out on a date, but not much use on a date.

2. The horn [H]
You might need it when you go to pick her up. A nasty loud blaring horn (that sounds like a Punjab da trukkk oye!) will probably not go down very well, but if you've got a wimpy horn, you'll sound sound like a, well, wimp. Now you know.

3. Torque [T]
If you have a torquey engine, it's a nice tool that you can use. On the first few dates, use the torque to overtake the other jerk with the chick behind him. She (the one behind you :s) ought to be a little impressed. On later dates, open the throttle suddenly to have the bike leap forward. Likely to have her clutch at you as a knee-jerk reaction (Though it's pretty sad for a girl to be clutching at a jerk like you).

4. Engine roar [E]
I suppose it looks better if your engine roars more than it purrs.

5. The front brake [B]
Nothing, I repeat, nothing will bring two people closer on a date than a well disguised and hard brake (the verb brake, not the noun brake). For this, you need a strong front brake. Ought to work like a charm.

6. The size of the rear seat [S]
A small rear seat leads to obvious consequences... the less said (by this author) the better *cough* *cough*.

7. Riding gear [G]
No idea how this impresses the ladies. Jerks tend to believe that they look more macho without riding gear on. I tend to differ on that view. Your take really.

8. The grab rail [R]
If you have a nice big grab rail to hold on to, your girl will hold that. You have a bad grab rail to hold on to, the lady will hold on to you.

9. The shock absorbers [A]
Bad shocks will make the pillion clutch harder at whatever she's holding, so bad shocks + #8, the maths is simple.

Now that we have eight parameters, let's rate bikes on these points. Scores out of 70, converted to a score out of 10. Higher scores are good for the desperate guys, lower scores good for the ladies. I'll only be rating bikes that I have used.

The results:

So there you have it.
Ladies, you know you can trust a guy on a Unicorn. Guys, Pulsar 200 for the win!

Disclaimers:
1. The author has never tried any of this. (What did you think?)
2. Guys, if the girl has (unfortunately) read this post, best of luck on that date.

The author wishes to acknowledge that the probability of him going out tended to zero before this post was published. After publishing, the probability now stands at zero. If you were amused for one moment by this article, please observe a microsecond's silence for this tragedy.

Dhak Dhak NO!

Dear Hero Honda,
I'm writing this letter because as a part of the market section that you're trying to target, I'd like to make a suggestion.
FIRE EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN YOUR MARKETING TEAM.
No? Again? Okay.
FIRE EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN YOUR MARKETING TEAM.

What was your HR team thinking when they employed the marketing team?

Please answer a few questions for my satisfaction:
1. Why did you name an otherwise okay bike 'HUNK'
2. What makes you think men want to ride a hunk?
3. Does a rider on a hunk really turn into a bison at will?
4. Does Hrithik Roshan's Karizma really have a nitrous oxide system?
5. What made you think a red bike with checks on it looks cool?
6. Did you actually think before you agreed to make a PINK Passion?
7. Did you actually even think before naming a bike Passion? Or pleasure?
8. Does anyone of the Next Generation really ride a Splendor NXG?
9. Does anyone ride a Splendor NXG?
10. Does the 'new' CBZ extreme have anything different from the old one other than red rear wheel rims?
11. How does the new CBZ extreme spin about two axes in one jump?

Enough? Really, you people ought to be banned for the mental trauma your rubbish adverts cause to billions of innocent people. On another note, the people at TVS who dreamed of 'jab angoothe se kaam chale to laath kyon maarna?' for the self started TVS Star are snickering at you about now. You should be ashamed.

For the lucky uninitiated, here you go:
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=i0ZhYYSrf_8

A town of many Tales

It's a friday night - and I receive a call from Abba (known in certain circles as the holy baba). He tells me that we should go for a biking trip the next morning. I'm a biking enthusiast myself, so it wasn't long before I said yes - with one caveat - no pillion riders. When you want to just have a flat out blast on a bike, I just feel that the pillion gets in the way. After a little argument, he agreed.
Too bikers is two few (or is it two bikers is too few?), so we needed more people. The only other person with a bike is the fair Encke. We gave her a call, and a little while later she was on board.

Later that night, frantic plans were made. 'We should go to the Talegaon MIDC area,' I said. It is a beautiful place. Then on the spur of the moment, we decided that it would, in fact, be Lonavla that we went to. All fixed up, we were to meet the next day at 7:30.

Trust Abba to be late. To add more chaos to the mix, Encke turned up at 7:10 and called the two of us. I got to the rendezvous point around 7:30, and Abba at 7:50. We're finally set! Off we went then, riding out. We'd go through Khadki, then Pimpri and Chinchwad before we hit the open highway. About 50-60 km from there would get us to Lonavla. Of course, there are traps in the best laid plans. Abba's Enfield developed a front tyre puncture in Khadki, and to worsen matters, the mechanic broke an axle clamp while fitting back the fixed tyre. Game over for Abba. Crucially, it had cost us more than an hour.

Abba vehemently insisted that we go on. I wasn't too sure, and left it to Encke to decide. She said, 'We've come this far, we might as well finish the trip.' We decided to drop the idea of Lonavla and go instead, to our original destination, Talegaon - the town of many tales (geddit?). Leaving Khadki at 9:45 (we had expected to be eating chocolate fudge in Lonavla by this time) we had a stonker of ride, covering 30 odd km in nearly as many minutes.

Once out of the twin townships of Pimpri and Chinchwad, the highway is open, empty and fantastic. For a stretch of about 5-6km, we were doing speeds in excess of 100kmph. Once in the MIDC area, the photographers in Encke and me took over. A few beautiful flowers were snapped, the panaroma featured in some of our photos too. There were a few pics of Encke and a few of me, a few of us both. Take a look at the pics we took, or head over here to see all of 'em in a better res.

The journey back home was good as well. I even took a turn at what could be called an outrageous lean (on a public road of course. On a racetrack, that very lean would be outrageous, for different reasons!) of 25-30 degrees to the road! Encke was a little more circumspect at that lean. We hit over 100kmph again in a couple of spots and made it back to Pune in about an hour's time. Tremendous fun! Will certainly do again!

The link to the pics again - if you missed it

Helmets

I've been wondering why people in our country so dislike wearing helmets while riding two wheeled vehicles. So I decided I should list the benefits of not wearing helmets - as compared to the benefit of wearing one. Here we go -

The benefits of not wearing a helmet:
1. You can spit on the road (That is of course, much more important than safety)
2. You can show off your 'skills' and try to impress people (Really! What's the use of being safe? Much better to be cool!)
3. You won't lose hair (Imaginary studies conducted by idiots conclusively prove that 98.671045% of all people who regularly use helmets lose all their hair after an average 6.43 minutes of helmet wear. Why take a risk with your hair? The hair is more important than the head!)
4. You can feel the wind rush through your hair. (Even if you run the risk of tasting asphalt once in a while, it's bloody well worth it!)
5. You won't run the risk of getting neck aches (Other imaginary studies state the 143% of helmet users suffer from chronic neck pain that makes them look like dead people from Zee Horror Show. Better to live short without neck ache, than live long with the hypothetical pain!)
6. You can give people horrid looks, and make your insults and abuses very clear (You can't really do that effectively from the confines of a helmet. Without a helmet, you can express yourself better.)
7. You don't have to tire yourself carrying the helmet around (More imaginary studies show that the stress felt by your hand carrying the helmet is about 4,692,120 times more than the stress your head will feel if it hits the ground in a biking accident.)
8. You save money! (So what if you might have to spend much more on medical treatments?)
9. You don't feel hot under the helmet (This one is the absolute truth. Obviously, direct exposure to sunlight keeps your head cooler than being shielded by an inch and a half of insulating material.)
10. You can hear things on the road better (And that matters. If you don't notice people, how will you go about yelling at them and making faces?)

The benefits of wearing a helmet:
There's just one, primary benefit - you remain a lot safer with the helmet on, than without it. (Safety? THAT'S FOR LOSERS! Real men/women aren't gutless worms who need helmets protecting them!)

So as you can see, the benefits of not wearing a helmet outnumber the advantages of wearing one 10:1. No wonder. I always knew that most of my countrymen had done the maths had opted for the more 'sensible' choice!

Why I don't want to drive

Recently, almost everyone has been nagging me to learn how to drive. People keep telling me things like 'It's good to know how to drive...' (Yes it is), 'It'll be a lot of fun!' (Maybe so), 'It's much safer' (It is)... I've lost count. But I'm not going to learn how to drive. Not just yet. Primarily because I'm having too much fun on my bike.

Driving cars maybe fun, but it can never be as thrilling as a bike can be. And the reason is one of those I mentioned above. It's not as safe. Riding a bike is a lot riskier than driving a car is. Even if you don't count the state of our roads and the behaviour of our motorists, I still think it takes a phenomenal amount of skill and guts to have the same amount of fun on a bike that you can have in a 'safe' car. Cars have a ton of safety features in them - ABS, Airbags, Seat Belts etc. On a bike, all you have for protection are a helmet (don't consider yourself worthy of a bike if you do not use a helmet) and less often gloves, elbow/knee guards and suchlike. In spite of all the protection you wear, you're still going to take a beating if you have a fall. In a car, there's little risk of hurting yourself if you muck something up.

On a bike, therefore, you have to be completely in control of the vehicle, and yet let the vehicle control you. Know the vehicle's limits, but it must know yours too. When you try something spectacular on a bike, you put your faith completely into the bike and your skill - there's no steel cage, no seatbelt to protect you. Which is why when you succeed in doing something exhilarating on a bike, the high that you get can be rivalled by little else. It is the union of man and machine that gives you such a rush- each dependent on the other for safety. I've done it a couple of times- pushed the bike a little further than I thought it could've gone. Both times, on razor thin margins, the bike held on. Once, I've returned the favour, using skill to overcome the bike's slip. It's a symbiotic system - man and machine.

Another thing that irks me about cars is that you have to get pretty high up to get a car that is fun. A road ripping bike can be yours for a fraction of that money. As far as I know, the swift is the only 'fun' car a reasonable sum of money can buy. The next stop comes at nearly double the cost - the Mitsubishi Lancer. That, is my dream car... Maybe then I'll want to drive... Even if I'm 40 by the time I can afford one!
Till that day comes, I might learn how to drive, but I'm going to be on my bike more than I'll ever be in a car.

It pays to do the right thing

Long time, no see eh? What? You were happy I wasn't blogging much? No I didn't quite hear that. Stop mumbling and go on to read the next post.

This happened a few days back...
My cousin and I were returning home one night. It wasn't what you'd call a long ride... about 10km or so. I hadn't been sure of the amount of fuel in my bike, so while I was checking that, he left. He had a headstart of 5 minutes or so. Once I was convinced that there was sufficient fuel, I was off. I'm the younger one here, and the one with the smaller (engine displacement) bike. Thought it would be fun to catch up with him, and ten km would be a long enough distance to make up the lost five minutes...

Six odd kilometres of fast riding (not rash, mind you, fast and rash are different), and I'd finally caught up with him at a traffic signal. A bus separated him from me... As the signal went green, he got off to a nice headstart again, and I got bottled up behind the bus. By the time I'd overtaken the bus, I'd lost sight of him again. Now, this is the part where you need to refer to the map. I caught up with him again, at another traffic light (The orange dot on the map). Now, to get home (blue dot), I could either take a right turn, and ride up a one way, or I could follow traffic rules and go straight. The straight was obviously longer. I hoped against hope that he would pick the straight road, giving me a crucial kilometre or so to overtake him. But he didn't. He decided that it was late enough for him to take the right and go against the one way. So he ended up taking the red path, the shortest way home. I thought about following him. Then I didn't do it. A younger cousin was sitting pillion, didn't want to be setting bad examples... Took the straight road.

Now, the straight road leads to a junction at which some construction work is in progress (It's been on for a while, no one has any idea what they're up to) . Due to this, the way home is the yellow path. Very long as you can see, not a chance in hell of making it home first. Resigned to my fate, I proceeded. And then, the gift of the gods! That very day, a straighter road had been opened up for traffic (the brown part). Suddenly, I had another path, the green one. It wasn't as short as the red, but it would defintely cut a couple of hundred metres and eliminate the time consuming U-turn. Yelling and whooping (I'm afraid I must've made quite a scene of myself that night), I made my way home. My heart was pounding in my chest, adrenaline pumping through my system... would he have made it home? Would the ride up the one way have delayed him long enough? Nervously took to the right turn, and then the left... to see...

No bikes parked in front of my house! I'd beaten him! In spite of the five minute handicap, in spite of the fact that I took the longer way home, I'd beaten him home! It was a good two minutes before he arrived.

It's a valuable lesson... Don't break traffic rules. It's dangerous, not only to you, but to countless others on the roads around you. There is no time limit for traffic rules. They're always in effect. I'm happy that nothing went wrong that day, but how easy would it have been for a car to be speeding down the one way, and to have hit my cousin?

(At this point, I'd like to make it clear that my cousin is no slowpoke on the roads, and that the displacement difference was a good 40cc (or 25% more) , which is large enough on Indian roads)

Remember, it's good to follow the rules. The gods will bless you!

A Small Trip

I've been wanting to go biking someplace for a while. Last Sunday (i.e. not yesterday) that's just what I did. Took a couple of friends and another bike, and off we went to the Khadakwasla dam near Pune. I was disappointed by the length of the journey. It was rather shorter than we'd planned for...

Nevertheless, it was fun. Three of us. Two bikes. And the (mostly) open road. The area around Khadakwasla is quite a place... It's alternatively full of lush green vegetation and dry deciduous trees. Sets up the landscape quite nicely.

Those are of course our bikes. I rode both of 'em for reasonable while (not at the same time of course!). The Unicorn is a silent performer. The gears almost never run out, the engine is noiseless, the ride is smooth. The Apache on the other hand is agressive, racy and just dying to surge forward. We nearly went around the entire length of the dam reservoir.

I've got a couple of other pics as well:


Khadakwasla, in hindsight, is a nice place to go if you just want to spend the morning for a short ride. For a longer ride though, I'd strongly suggest a longer distance, say Panshet Dam or Pavna Dam (The author wishes to let you know that there are other places you can go to, around Pune, but just don't ask the author. He doesn't know... not just yet anyway).

It was my first taste of biking, my first baby steps into a wonderful new world. I rather like it!

Poetry in Motion

Bajaj is really pushing stunt biking in India. At least that's what I think. So what kind are you? Do you believe that bikes are a thing of beauty and can be graceful when desired? Or do you believe that they're just machines. Lifeless and soulless entities capable of only brutishness?

If you're part of the latter, I strongly suggest you look at this. You will be converted.



I really love the part where they catch hold of each other's hands. That is poetry in motion, if there ever was such a thing.

And you might want to check out the Pulsar 200 advertisement, which is in my opinion another piece of brilliance.
Pulsar 200 Advert

Riding Fit!

I had a fit while riding my bike. No I didn't. Just joking. Couldn't resist the pun on fit.

So finally! Fit to ride a two wheeled vehicular object safely on city roads again! It's been a while (since I can hold my head up high (sorry! It's an amazing song. Later) ) coming too. Makes you appreciate how much of a gift a fully functional body is. As I type this out, I'm still unable to lift heavy things... But it's an improvement. There was a time, not so long ago, when typing one handed was my only option. And that I can assure you is painful. And slow.

It's been a long road to recovery. Its not the big things that irk you, it's the small ones. Like not being able to squeeze out toothpaste. Like not being able to tie shoelaces. That's changing now. The hand is recovering. I'm going to (reload,) rev up and ride out! Have learnt a few things too.

1. Wear a helmet. Always. Even if you're just popping down to the grocery store half a kilometre away.

2. Keep your eyes peeled. Frequently, it's not your mistakes that will get you on the road, but those of others on the road.

3. Realise this : Bad luck will catch you before your lack of skill does.

Oh and the song! That's a Staind song that goes by the name of 'It's been a while'. Give it a listen sometime.

It's Such a Beautiful Day...

It was last Monday. The most beautiful day I'd seen in a long time. And I couldn't ride. That's because my hand was hurt. But back to the day. It was really fabulous. Clear skies. Not too cold, not too hot. Just perfect. One of those days even Jughead would want to spend out in the open. One of those days when you just have to just look up at the heavens and mouth a quiet "Thank You".

That's what I thought anyway. I mentioned this in passing to a couple of friends. I got a sarcastic "Yes it is" *mocking grin*. Another said "Ah so she spoke to you today!" *cheeky grin* (The author would like to make clear that the aforementioned "she" is unknown to him and probably a figment of said friend's imagination). I was even scoffed at by my mum, when I made this suggestion.

No seriously. What is it with people these days? Are they so tied up with work that it's impossible to appreciate something as simple as the weather? (The author would also like to let you know that he is aware that weather is not a simple thing. He will clear that bit up with a forthcoming post.) So lost in their own world that not even a grudging look can be spared for the sky?

It's scary really. Where are we going with this? It's bad enough people won't even notice the weather (Unless it's raining. In which case the weather notices you. Not the other way around), but how can you not notice it when it is pointed out to you? Can you really miss the blue skies? Can you really overlook the pleasant breeze? I thought not, but I've been given a sudden jolt back to reality (ironically, one that jolts me away from reality). There's no time for this anymore. I'm in shock really. There's only one thing to do. The next time I'm blessed with such a day, I'll make polite gestures at the world. And go off on my bike... to wherever the road may lead me.