The Motorcycle Diaries

Its been more than four years now that I have owned a bike. Wondering how many years its gonna add up.

It seems like yesterday when I decided to get either a bike or car mainly for commuting purposes. I will be honest here that I prefer my mode of transport to be walking or traveling in BEST buses.

Thought of buying a car but given the Bombay traffic and that it would be extensively used by me, bike seem to make more sense.

Since this got resolved. There was another problem. I did not knew how to ride a bike. My friend from my school days and me had driven his father's bike. That was like ages ago.

I & my other friend decided to get a second hand bike and we thought of using it as our practice bike before we got ourselves a new one. Then again things never go the way we want.

We scrapped the plan and then tried to find someone who could teach us riding a bike. Can you imagine that? Apparently you can find a lot of people/classes teaching you drive a car but a bike is a big no.

However I did manage to find one. I used to wake up at 5 am in the morning catch a train and get down at one of the stations where they used to teach to ride a bike. After my session, I used to get back home and leave for work. This went on for two weeks after which I decided to get my new bike.

Getting a new bike was not a problem but riding one on the roads with traffic is quite a different experience. Post getting my bike, I used to get early in the morning and go for rides in the morning till I got all my strength together to ride it on the road.

The first three years I would clock only 9000 kms. Often the service center guys would ask me you drive your bike too often? What was I suppose to say that I use it only from home to office & back.

Then the day came when I took it out for my first long ride along with my friends and what fun we had riding on the bike. So many memories!

It was towards the end of 2016, I took a short solo trip to Nashik and that really turned out to be an adventure. Given that air was leaking from my tyre but it was not a puncture. Reached Mumbai late evening and it was pitch dark given the yellow lights of the bike was not bright enough to lighten the roads. What a nightmare it was but thankfully reached home safely.

It just only got me to do a few fixes on my bike so that I don't face the mentioned problems again. This I had to take as I had planned to take 2000 km solo ride.

I took this trip last year and it was worth every penny. Every ride has its hardships and mine has always been when I am coming back home. On the way back to home, my will really got tested to such a level that I was not sure if I am going ride a bike on longer distances again. You can read all about it on this link.

Biking is a fun experience especially when you are exploring places. The experience is very different when compared with traveling in a car. The wind gushing on your face when you move ahead and in control of the ride. It just takes you on a whole different level when you are surrounded with scenic landscapes and greenery and who can forget the ghats and its corners.

For me the journey has just begun... What about you?


P.S.: You can check out the photos of my journey on the link