first 1000 kms of REjuvination

"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of Travelling"- Margaret Lee Runbeck

Exactly. This statement by the American author points at a simple way to be Happy: Keep Travelling. For me its 'Riding'.
Its been first 1000 kms on my Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 (aka RE TB 500) and the more kilometers I cover riding it, the more I want to explore and yes, be happy.
One of the best part of the ride is that you are aware of only one thing as your cruise- the exciting road ahead. It certainly takes away the extra baggage, viz mails, sms, money, relationships, that comes complimentary with the daily life you lead, off your shoulders for the time being and lets you be who you are. Well the fantasy ends with the ride but the hunger to travel more intensifies and I start looking at upcoming rides on social networking sites.

On my maiden Ride to Nuh, Haryana on 1st Sept'13, the excitement and happiness levels were beyond boundaries. I came to know about this ride on Facebook where the organisers "The Delhi Bikers Adventure Tour Group" had found this amazing virgin location where riding was pure adrenalin rush. Riding along with 100 riders & in formation was a sight to watch. Needless to say i was enjoying every bit of the experience so far and making new mates in the group. As we began our conquest from Gurgaon, enroute I passed the high rises of Gurgaon, highway (NH8, Sohna-Alwar highway), village (Sohna, Nuh), farms, brick klins, hills any many more, completely unaware how beautiful can be the destination Nuh, whose name does not promise much. Crossing the hilly road our group entered a small pathway between the bushes to the ride terminating destination. The place was awesome and i have not seen such a picturesque location. The best part was of the destination was the bank of the spring , where the bikes were parked. That place was worth the sweat & dust. Since it was a break fast ride, reaching to the point where B/fast was being served an adventure indeed. We had to trek & climb a hill (as you do it in rock climbing :)) and reach the spot.

 

Frankly I was not confident while climbing up, so me and my new friend & ride mate Kashish Mittal (pic- gentleman in Red helmet)teamed to help each other & conquer the fear & the hill and yes we did it..bade aaram se.


The view from the top of the hill was awesome and made me wonder how magnificent the place was and continued wondering about many such places are which are around me which I am not aware of. That determined me to get on as many rides and explore as many places as I could see and yes be happy too. By the time we reached up our breakfast (poha & bhajiya was already being served. Enjoyed it while meeting new riders who were quite pro and the experienced riders and were proudly discussing about their tales of their individual rides, mostly to the bikers dream destination- Leh-Ladakh. Their stories were inspiring enough to make me decide that next year I will be there and accomplish exploring that region too. I was listening to their stories like a kid & already dreaming to be there soon.
Reaching down, i.e, trekking down was tougher which we both managed well again. Clicking some snaps as our memorabrilia was inevitable. Me & Kashish decided to leave early to beat the heat & sun and as we started, we were unable to locate the path taken by us to reach the spring point. That was blessing in disguise as it left us with finding & making our way up. Explored between the hills to find the way also made this ride an off road event as we were finding our way between the rocks and bushes. Finally we did that successfully and but it gave birth to the desire of getting on a bigger & tougher off-roading ride. As we found our way out we realized that it was not the path we had taken initially to get to the spring and that the route took us to the point where we had breakfast. I felt happy for discovering the route and conquer the off-roading and foolish too for not doing it earlier, as that would had made us not climb the hills for food :).
On our way back, felt the happiness in the simplicity of the people in the people in the villages that we had crossed, the green fields, children rushing to road side to wave their hands gesturing 'b-bye' and many more experiences which I had experienced in the past, as a kid, during the annual trip to our native in Madhubani and was delighted to feel that way, after a very long time.
Perhaps the daily hustle and fight for survival has taken us miles away from doing smaller things and being happy. Seeing the 'glass' bottles of Pepsi made stop my bike and picking up a one. Perhaps I was seeing one after some time and drinking one after a really long time. The 'AAH' after glugging it down my throat was so pleasantly nostalgic and reminded me of the school days when I used to have one such bottle every day and happiness quotient was same everyday. It may sound little overrated, but yes happiness form doing such smaller things is a rarity now. Perhaps because we are in the race of doing something big and once its done, we redo it or something else to make our presence felt. Sadly, not sure about the happiness quotient here.
I returned home by completing the 150 kms ride noon  to resume my responsibilities at home, work and everywhere else.   

However the zeal to ride & explore more had made me look out for exciting & upcoming rides and fortunately it was next weekend and icing on cake was  it being an off-roading one...wow...
Offroading & more on 8th Sept. yes, that it was not only highway, village roads & lake, off roading between the hills at mid-severity level was on the cards on this ride. This time the ride was with a matured group of RE only riders- namely Royal Bikers Gang (RB) which is moderated by Amit Kaushik (friend, ride enthusiast & expert, owner of the dealership-KayTee Automobiles where I got from & many more) and his fast friend & partner Manish Bhaskar, and many other like minded Royal Enfield owning gentlemen.
On this journey, again, I was the newbie in the group, but was well thankfully accepted & guided. The destination - Damdama Lake in Haryana, located enroute Sohna from Gurgaon was kept as surprise till last day and that it was going be an up/down hill ride was disclosed when we reached there. After assembling at Kaytee  (KT) showroom, Mahipalpur, we embarked on our journey at 5.30 am and reached the lake resort around in an hour approx. Since we reached quite early, the restaurant had not opened the doors and then we set off for the high adrenalin ride to conquer the hills.


The route that we were supposed to take initially was flooded & seemed that we needed to cross a lake to reach to the final spot. It always pays to be with experts...Thanks to the expert moderators, who knew another way to reach the spot. So we went back few kilometers to take a detour via small by lanes of a village and then, the small, adventurous uphill journey began as we crossed the village.

As we made our path between the rocks, boulders and dust, I realized that sitting on the powerful machine was blessing. The super charged 500CC engine pumped enough power to cross the hurdles with  ease. Maintaining balance on the bike was the key survive & cross the track unhurt and thankfully most of us did that quite well. Though there were riders who got stuck between the rocks but there were enough helping hands to take them through. That's where the brotherhood among fellow riders comes out inevitably. There were many riders who did not know others but were there to help them at the drop of the hat, One common link, 'passion for ride' tied all of them together. As it is said-

if passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. Perhaps the reason to embark on the journey was to enjoy the ride on our machines, keeping the worries at bay for the time being and do what we felt was accomplishing, meet more like minded  people share experiences and spread brotherhood. So without thinking about 'who is who' we all helped each other to complete the ride.
As we reached the stopover point we took a moment to relax and share our stories and have our share of fun, before starting journey back to the resort.
And the journey back seemed to be even tougher because our onward journey had removed enough rocks & soil to make it more deadly. Thankfully I managed to complete cover the track with extra caution and being conscious of self & my TB's strengths. So did many of my fellow riders. Coming back to the village road gave me a sense of achievement which cant be explained in words but I felt happy & contended. As we reached the resort, organizers ordered breakfast which was badly needed at that time. Parathas, omlette, pakodas, coffee...perfect high calorie food to refuel ourselves after the ride.
Post breakfast we regrouped again where we all came to know more about each member through a round of self-introduction. And was happy to meet them and make some good friends again.
This ride especially, also reinforced the importance of few words that I read in books and knowledge quotes- Passion, Analysis & realization of self strength/weakness & Focus can make one conquer unknown territory with determination and little support of reliable people around. Hope to take these awakening thoughts back and not forget them to implement when I am back in the grind.  As the journey ended I realized on my way back that the side stand indicator had developed a snag went back to the dealership to rectify it. Since my TB had done its 1st service after crossing the threshold limit of 500 kms (where speed was restricted to <60 km/hr), I took the liberty to push the throttle to reach the top speed which had clocked over 100km/per hour and it was thrilling. I was cautious of the surroundings,the road and was being a responsible rider & was able to restrict my ride within manageable speed limits. Riding at top speed and challenging that speed at every second opportunity gushed adrenalin in my soul tempting me to challenge & beat it again, every time. Thankfully all went well and we started discussing about the next trip after reaching KT which was RANN OF KUTCH, a 2500 kms ride in 5 days...WOW
The ride ended with me covering ~100 kms and ticking top speed of 110 kms/per hour and  thinking/planning for next feat.
The hunger kept increasing and I was finding a way to get a leave from the recently joined workplace and 'Rann' away to Kutch which was today yesterday 2nd Oct'13. This time my head acted as the boss and prevented my heart from thinking, thus responsibilities took a lead over desires and wishes. However that did not stop me from joining the seeing off the group up to Neemrana.
The 3rd ride- 'Seeing off till Neemrana' was organized by RB for unfortunate souls like me who were missing the opportunity to go all the way. Left home little late than set time and thus almost missing the gang by minutes, as they had moved out sharp at 5am. Caught the gang at the petrol pump and we all (12 bikers) began our quest. 4 of us including Amit were not going all the way and had to return back seeing them off at Neemrana.
The ride was in pitch dark highway where restoration work in underway, thus made us encounter lot of diversions, bad patches, uneven bumps and may unpleasant stuff. Unfortunately one of the riders met a small mishap due to the pathetic work done on the so called NH8, just before Dharuheda. However the rider was strong and his willpower was even stronger to get up and continue his journey, with cuts, bruises and some broken parts of his machine. As the incident happened, some riders who went ahead without knowing about it (since they were riding before him), sensed something amiss and returned back for their fellow riders who had stopped. Everyone was encouraging him and get together to boost his morale and get his bike ready for continuing  the journey.
After a short stop for 15 minutes, his bike roared and we all continued our journey and this time more cautiously.
Realized that our ability to focus was put to test here as the road was full of obstructions in form of pot holes, diversions, uneven roads, mangled barriers, boulders on the road, erratic truck drivers, overloaded trucks carrying dusty substance reducing visibility and with many more such absurd stuff on the road, which is one of the best highways (NH8). The irony is that travellers pay a toll tax to go through this torture.
We took a pit stop and Tea break just before Neemrana where the first aid was given to the injured riders by friend Shantanu (got to know him during my last ride). One of the good part of the arrangement was that the organizers were well prepared to face adversities and were carrying a well stocked First aid kit, a spare driver, a mechanic all in a car following the group. The mechanic repaired the repairable parts as we stretched ourselves and sipped tea from our cups.
I was feeling terrible for the very fact that I was unable to join the folks and had to return back. As we hugged and shook hands we wished them all the luck to accomplish their conquest to run on the white sand of Kutch under the moonlight. While coming back with a heavy heart cursing the reasons & situations restricting me to return back.
Thankfully on way back the road was better, traffic was civilized which allowed me to test my bike's top speed which was thrilling 120kmph...WOW!! but riding back with sensible riders lets you to not loose control of things and keeps your grounded. Also riding back thought of getting on my next ride was knocking and it kept me wondering where it should be. Along with those thoughts some more questions that popped in my mind- what if I was unable to join the next ride because of the same reasons that prevented me this time.
The ride was amazing, covered total 200 kms both way in 4.5 hours was surely thrilling but missing the Rann ride was causing a serious heartache. hope the pain goes away soon and along with it takes away the worries, uncertainties that comes packaged with our routine life.
As I reached home the kilometer read 1000 kms thus bringing a smile of achieving a milestone and looking forward to more such kilometers to rejuvenate my self and be ready to face the world with lessons learnt and experience gained on every ride.

My thirst for getting on a ride every weekend had increased by many folds. The next ride was a Cause ride- 'Each One Teach One' which was organised by DBATG group to support a NGO. Fellow riders supported the NGO by donating books, writing instruments etc. generously. During the ride I happened to meet & eventually be part of another group of matured riders - 'Reborn Riders' a 'RE only' owners group.
With every ride, my experience on the road & while meeting passionate riders, made me aware about new dimensions of life which was fulfilling and memorable. The reasons for looking forward to join every new ride are numerous and the greed to be on the next ride kept me charged throughout the week, no matter how rigorous every day was. The rejuvenated feeling cant be penned down exactly in words but just felt.


Finally all this achievement was impossible, if I hadn't got my TB as my birthday gift from my beloved friend, partner, wife...thanks Shona for gifting this tool to recharge and be myself, knowing that it will take me away from you (physically) for some hours. Though a simple thanks is very inappropriate here. love you

N.B.- it took me >2 months to pen this blog & wanted to complete & post this one before I set out for the next big ride to Nainital-Mukteshwar with Reborn Riders on 30th Nov.
Signing off here before I return with more memories & happiness.