Roadshakers - Anniversary Ride - 20/10/2007

Need I say more? ;-)
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The Roadshakers Independence Day Ride : 2007

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Independence Day ride, I had always heard, was a big ride for the Roadshakers. Having been occupied with a lot of things in the past 2 months, I had missed meets and rides but I always had the IDay ride in my mind. So when the day dawned, 15/08/2007 for the historically challenged, it rained like it always rains in the free India! I was already out on the streets and obviously wet. So was Naveen who passed me by wearing Black Shades and no helmet! I was clearly betting my money on not many turning up for the ride and my hopes of actually seeing a big count of bikes taking a beating. Sigh...
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2pm at Pashan in front of BU Bhandari -- 5 bikes! But by the time I had figured out where to get batteries for my #%#%#$ camera (it still didn't work by the way!), the count had steadily risen to 15. By the time, pin-the-flag-on-my-chest game was over, courtesy Naveen who got the flags and pins, Ram & Vikram who were busy pinning, there were around 30bikes. That was promising but still 6 below the largest count I had seen on my very first meeting.
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At around 3pm (2pm RST), by the time the flags were affixed on Baljit's bike, National Anthem sung and the bikes started falling into 2 lines, the count had swelled to 50!!! Now thats what will grab eyeballs. And of course pierce a few ear drums. So the route :
BU Bhandari, Pashan -- University Circle -- FC Road -- JM Road -- Sancheti Circle -- RTO Bridge (1st STOP) -- RTO/Le Meridian Road -- Jehangir Hospital -- Mangaldas Road -- Koregaon North Main Road -- Kalyani Nagar Bridge -- Adlabs -- Kalyani Nagar Bridge (2nd STOP) -- KP South Main Road -- Blue Nile -- Magnum Mall/Westside -- MG Road -- Bishops School
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I know Roadshakers enjoyed every bit of it cause I had a bunch of new comers riding in front. Their camera's never stopped rolling! What is always a sight to behold is people stopping in their tracks to watch the convoy of 50 bullets, the very first one waving 3 tricolor's! I unfortunately do not have any pictures of these expressions from aam-junta, waving, smiling, saluting, shouting. I don't know if we Roadshakers managed to spread any worthwhile message, but we sure did make people stop and notice the tricolor. I myself had never experienced such excitement before (though most of my time went in ensuring i didn't bump into the rider in front!). I hope we do something for a worthwhile cause next year on I Day cause Roadshakers sure can grab eyeballs. A lot of them! And holding banners with traffic safety tips is a nice thought, but we surely can get people to notice more!

Off to Ladakh - All 3 of them!

Date : Wednesday, 20/06/2007
Time : 5.30am
Place : Vahuman Cafe, Next to Jehangir Hospital, Bundgarden Road, Pune
Occasion : Flag off ceremony for "The 3" riding to Ladakh.
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Rajat was damn excited about the Ladakh trip for last few weeks. Borrowing shoes, gloves, money...everything short of the bike and guts. When I met him on 19th evening at around 5pm, he had not yet packed, not slept well and probably guzzled booze the night before. All that he had done in the last few weeks under the flag of preparation was grow a beard. To get the "Biker" look! Giving bikers a bad name, idiot! Look at the pictures, aren't the rest shaved and well dressed? ;-) Anyways. The plan was that they would be meeting at 5.30am at Vahuman Cafe and leave sharp at 6am. Tall order....Roadshakers Standard Time as always.
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I had not been astride my Bull for last 4 weeks due to the burn injury and been missing the meets for 4 straight weeks. Seemed like a ,perfect occasion to bring out the bike. Hardest part was that i had not slept well for 2days myself. Its never an issue to stay up late but getting up early is a big naaaaaaaaah. But for this noble cause to further the motivation level of fellow Roadshakers, i set the alarm for 4.45am. Knowing fully well that it was going to prove real stupid cause Rajat & Naveen together beat the laziest of the lazy hands down and never make those times themselves. But they were going where I wanted to go. But for the one unproductive activity in my life called work, that provides for my all, I would have been riding along! But come September and I will.
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And guess what? I did hear the alarm and did wake up. It sure was hard with no time to make tea. So I simply put on the clothes (shut up!), jacket, hung the camera around my neck and went up to the bike rubbing my eyes. It didn't let me down, i must say. Started with precisely 3 half & 1 full kick. Felt real good to be on again and no better time to ride than early morning. King of the roads! Was there at around 5.30am, greeted by a familiar sight of only 2 bikes standing. Ram & Ujawal were the only ones on time. From then on it was...waiting, waiting, waiting. As people gathered, including Naveen who turned up at 6, junta started dialling to find out the where abouts Rajat. It was only after a lot of calling, getting mad, calling names & almost sending off Naveen all alone, that Rajat turned up at 6.45am.
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As expected, except for the serviced bike and donning of appropriate gear to suit the "Biker" look, he was completely unprepared. What followed was complete pandemonium for a solid 30mins. Rajat & Manish trying to tie up the luggage. Manish asking real difficult questions to Rajat & Naveen that they didn't really want to answer. Bawa clicking snaps & tying special tags to the two bikes along with Mustan. Finally...it was all secured. Talismans tied around necks, coconuts offered to the God of Travel (there must be one, right?), hand shakes, hugs, cheers & umpteen pictures later, off went the 3. Yep. 3! Rajat, Naveen & my shoes! Rajat had them on.....God Speed! Ride safe & have fun!
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My first literary acknowledgement!

I know the title sounds a bit of an exaggeration but what the heck! I still can't help taking this ego trip. Why? Read this email below
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support@royalenfield.com wrote:
From: support@royalenfield.com
To: nileshxxxxx@xxxxx.com
Subject: Your Trip Story
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:09:12 +0530
Dear Nilesh,
This is to inform you that your Royal Enfield Trip experience has been published online at www.royalenfield.com/IN/. Do visit the site and check it out. Don't forget to tell your family and friends to take a look at it. The story is quite good so you should flaunt it. You will soon have an exciting gift from us for this wonderful story.
Cheers and ride safe,
The Royal Enfield Team
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Pretty cool right? And I get a Royal Enfield T-Shirt (size : 42 for those who want to gift me t's) soon!!! I did the write up for my blog and sent it by email to the friends at Roadshakers. Wasn't expecting junta to like it so much and Rohan/Doc/KD, all suggested that I should upload this on RE Trips section. So I did and here is the link for the trip log on the RE Site : "Angels o' d dark - Roadshakers"

Angels of the dark : A ride in the night with the Roadshakers.

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Date : 21/04/2007
Time : 11.00pm
Place : Opp BU Bhandari Showroom, Pashan
Plan : All Night Ride
Route : Pashan -> Chandani Chowk -> Mulshi -> Ambey Valley -> Lonavala -> Pune
Attendees : 10 Bullets + 10 Riders + 1 Pillion + 1 VUP
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Now for the average Joe caught in the office-home-office-weekend movie-office routine, what Roadshakers did on 21st April'07 night into 22nd April'07 morning is blasphemous! Ridiculous waste of time, money and complete nuisance to the society! But for Roadshakers, it was a night of rejuvenation of tired sinking eyes mostly used for staring at the new-idiot-box-called-PC and good solid massage to legs mostly used to do nothing more than balancing a stationary bike at traffic lights during the week. The plan was to go have some fun on the hills all night. Do what a bullet isn't supposed to do i.e. race up and down slopes littered with everything from rocks, mud, loose gravel. Everything but good smooth layer of tar! Now do I have your attention?
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Now some may ask "Why night?". I say why not?? First its loads of fun to watch the road unfold in front of you in the (not so) tiny headlight beam and even more fun to make the bike go where the road is going. Second, riding during the day these days is pretty much akin to sitting in a tandoor. I've done both these and trust me, the first one is helluva fun and the second, absolute agony from hell. So here was a line up of 10bikes. Okay 8 in the pic but 2 joined us later so stop being sucha pest! The route was Pashan-Chandani Chowk-Mulshi-Aambey Valley-Lonavala-Pune. Just about 200 odd kms round trip. We started I think at around 11.15pm with Navin, the VUP....ok now, VUP is Very Unhappy Pillion, riding pillion with Rajat and a-girl-Manish-never-introduced riding pillion with him. Mostly a very normal ride till Mulshi except for occasional irritation caused by the 4 wheeled cages driving with high beams on. There was a bike that was dead slow by the Roadshakers standard. Slow as in slower than what mine was during the Hedvi ride. Now that should give you an idea that slow=crawls in this case. So grouping, regrouping all along, we reached at the foot of Mulshi (my guess since i had never been on this route). The time, around 12.30pm.
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I was till then, "hmmmm...this is just another road". I was going to be proved wrong soon. So bloody wrong! :) So junta stopped, ate dunno how many omlettes and gulped countless teas for what seemed like an hour at the dhaba. KD joined the group almost the same time it stopped at the dhaba and was amongst the key people sucking the life out of what seemed to be eggs laid by a very lame chicken. Gandhi wouldn't stop for one bit complaining & wondering about how thin the omelettes were and what must have gone wrong with the chicken that laid them! I clicked a few pictures here and there. 5 infact. Guess this just wasn't to be a ride for pictures and that was what was good about it.
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At around 1.15am or so, we turned back and took a tiny right turn just before we hit the dhaba. The 'road' went through a village and then hit some smallish hills. We kept climbing and climbing some more doing pretty quick time. I'm sure it was quick cause Gandhi today mentioned that he was surprised to constantly see my headlight in his RVM's and he is one quick rider himself. With KD leading the way and the other rider struggling at the rear end of the group, the group got separated into 6 bikes at the front, me stuck in the middle and the slow bike flanked by Manish & Rajat at the end. Since it was decided that one shouldn't leave the sight of the headlight at the back, I kept slowing down to look for lights from the 3 bikes behind me. It meant, slowly but surely, i was getting cut away from the pack in front. With the pack behind in no sight, I had no choice but to catch up the front pack and leave the bikes at the end to make their own pace. Riding alone in that dark was something that I wasn't going to dig at all! So here was a pack of 7 bikes ripping like nuts on what was now not more than some tar thrown around. I was by now thinking "okay..so this is not all tar but some difficult roads but what the heck, its not difficult". Wrong wrong wrong!
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We stopped a bit for Manish, Rajat to catch up. 15minutes and no sign. So Adil and I went down the slopes to find out. The only time on the ride when someone was cut off from the group for so long! Soon we found 2 bikes gunning up the slopes. When we regrouped with the gang uphill, much to the relief of Manish & Rajat, it was learnt that the slow rider had realized that it was not worth the trouble for him and turned back home. Now that was a nice gesture from him cause it freed up the group a lot later and let Manish have some fun! And starting now is when i kept getting proved wrong about all that I had imagined the ride would be. :) With everyone free to rip, soon the bikes were climbing at speeds that might seem like insanity to the average-joe (remember i introduced him right at the begining?). And not far onto the hills, the "road" (hardly qualified as that) just vanished! Just like that....no tar. Just gravel, rocks, stones, mud & bumps. Add to that tight curves and both steep uphill and down hill slopes. One helluva perfect recipe for some serious kicka$$ fun you will agree (provided you are not joe)!! All the apprehension I had about my hand before the ride had to be kept aside. Not cause I wasn't worried but cause I had to keep staring at where I was going!!! There was no time to think. Just see and turn. See some more and brake. Brake, turn and rip!!! Watch the tail light of Gandhi's bike and keep playing the guess game of where the road was going. Of course there was no way one could know what lay ahead on the road by looking at a tailight but atleast it pretty much prepared for the tightness of the turn....So thank you Gandhi! And in the hindsight, I can understand why Navin was a VUP! :) Poor thing, he must've missed his bike so much knowing what fun everyone was having!
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And as we hit some kinda security outpost just before Aambey Valley, the bikes were stopped by the security there. Some crackle coming out of the walkie talkie said something like "let the bikes go" and off we went again. But soon the 'road' appeared just like it had vanished. But this time it was butter smooth tarmac with beautiful curves and clear signs. Not sure about the houses inside but the Sahara Parivar sure has provided some cracking roads worth emulating in our very own Pune city! Junta didn't need any more invitation and soon the lights ahead of me were gone. With me riding at my speed and further slowing down to keep Eklavya, the lone rider at the back, I finally got a chance to get my bearings right and breath back. The roads of Aambey Valley suddenly seemed so much less exciting!
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We regrouped near the bridge at the foot of the hills towards Lonavala. Some gyan imparted to new riders who were bunching up too close on the turns and getting too close with the bike in front once in a while. Guess there is always some throwing-the-caution-to-winds when people are having too much fun. But we sure need no broken bones so what had to be told had to be told in no uncertain words! Some cops spiced up the life by stopping by and saying "Aila ghara-daara nahit kya tumhala?" . Seems like there was some trouble some time and so we just left in a while towards Lonavala. From here on its as regular as any ride can get. Some more omlettes, tea, chatting and watching 18yr old kids playing loud music and dancing on the road later, the group moved towards Pune at 4am. NH4 as always was a breeze with the 50kms done in less than 50mins. The group split apart soon heading their own ways. No falls, just loads of fun! Thats what the ride was all about. Raza almost grew nipples from the cold air hitting him all the way. So boyz, men grow nipples when they come for a ride straight from work and don't wear a jacket! Remember that as a lesson! :)
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I remember Eklavya asking me about what the write up for this would be. I had replied --- "Just Vroooooooom over some roads" and that's it. Guess its turned out a hell lot more than that. I came home at around 6am with aching muscles but rested soul! Howz that for a poetic end to the writeup? Don't believe me? Check my pic below! Thats how a happy face looks on returning to the parking lot after a nice, happening ride! :)

RoadShakers -- "One" for the road!

Date : 14/03/07
Day : Wednesday
Time : 8pm
Place : BU Bhandari Showroom, Pashan Road.
Occasion : The "Exhaust Symphony Orchestra" concert... :D
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Sometimes reality proves you wrong and how! That's what my first meeting with the RoadShakers did to my idea of a riding club. I'm not or rather wasn't not so long ago, a believer in the concept of riding clubs. They always are "mostly" a bunch of guys with loud &/or expensive bikes riding in the city for a mile without lids but with expensive eyewear and then posing where exposure to the fair sex is maximum. Keeping the bikes parked in full view for a coupla hours, sipping coke, giving those 'cool/hot' looks and looking down upon commuters is their idea of "biking heaven"! So i wasn't really expecting much out of the tryst with RoadShakers. Satya almost convinced me that it was a soreass (his words) idea. Then their regular joint was the other end of the city and they meet on Wednesdays of all the days....Seemed like my first meeting was mostly going to be the last one. But I was going to give it at least one go no matter what!
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So at 7pm, I left from this-far-end-of-the-city i.e. Hadapsar towards that-far-end-of-the-city i.e. University Circle, in peak traffic hour! My processor up there was already trying to figure out the shortest/fastest route while my arms-n-legs were busy steering the bike. And then I hit something that almost made me change my mind again....Arghh...the stupid but deadly traffic. Slowly winding my way through it I hit a really really really bad traffic jam at SB Road in front of ICC Towers. I was so so ready to park my bike, take a rick home to Aundh, have my dinner at mom's place...but I soldiered on! Yeah, soldiered is the right word...Finally I made it to BU Bhandari showroom at 7.45pm only to find myself alone. Checked my phone to make sure it was a Wednesday, it was. Hmmmm...asked the local pan wallah if this is where 10's of Bullets of various shapes, sizes, colours and sounds, yes sounds, are parked at 8pm. Affirmative...so to kill time i went to the nearby ATM and by the time i got back, there were 10 odd bikes parked. So???? Was this it? I had dreamed of rows and rows of Bulls standing with burly, long haired, foul smelling guys standing behind a cloud of cigarette smoke talking things i didn't understand using language i didn't want to hear! Too much of OCC & Biker Build Off on t.v. for me i guess. Seemed like it was going to be a lame gathering after all....But since i was here, i was going to sit thru it all at least until the traffic cleared and i could head back home!
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I started chatting with the guys around, getting "that look" reserved for the newbie in the cowboy town full of quick-draw-mcgraw's! But what luck, i met someone who was pretty new to it as well and we kinda got started. Nothing much, same stupid talk about how many miles have you done etc....but by now the count of bikes in the lot had grown to a respectable 22-25. Not bad at all! But still, sitting on mine without anyone to talk for what seemed like a lifetime was wearing my patience thin. Dunno what was i expecting? A welcome hug? Boys eager to show off their toys on wheels & share their lunch box? Or some star like welcome? Yeh right! But honestly, it never feels nice to be alone in a group where everyone else knows everyone else but no one introduces themselves to you. The only person i knew was Dr.Prasad Bhangale aka Doc whom i had met on orkut and he failed to turn up. Guess i had to do that horrible ritual of shaking-hands-over-hi-myself-nilesh-from-pune to get to know people! I hate, absolutely hate going out to perfect strangers and introducing myself...BTW, i picked that line up from Satya! :)
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While i was making those stupid conversations and planning my exit never to return again, someone just started counting the bikes and the count had gone up to 33! And then everyone just started their bikes to move and fall into line in one of the two that were being formed. That was what basically woke me up from my stupor....all that noise. Bikes making all kinda exhaust notes ranging from the most common - loud to shrill to what seemed like bullet shots. Now this was turning good!!! I just fell into one of the lines and the 2 rows of terribly loud Bulls started moving towards University Circle. Cutting through the traffic, turning heads, the bikes cut through and made it to FC Road, Law College Road and then on SB Road finally coming to the regular joint, Firangpani, near Symbiosis. I was just too excited to be a part of this entire cavalcade to notice how long did the ride last or how fast did we go kinda stuff. Felt good man!
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And as we parked the bikes, that feeling of being lonely in the crowd started rising again. Was it just about a 15min ride? Then someone (found out later that Rajat Gandhi it was) started collecting money for coffee..dunno when i paid that 10 bucks but i was damn hungry cause it was 9.45pm and still no sign of food or the excitement. Then someone (Manish it was) just stood up and started asking everyone to calm down to start the proceedings. Okay, so there was more than just chatting randomly. Good good! All new members raise their hands said the-voice-of-god from up above (he was standing on the chair) and 2 hands went up. One was mine and the other of a tall lanky short haired (on the head) guy who seemed just as bored/confused as me. We were asked to stand up on a bench and introduce ourselves. Damn...stage fright! Every single pair of eyes burning holes through me as i uttered - 'I'm Nilesh. I ride an Electra 5S. I work for EDS in Hadapasar. And i came to know of RoadShakers on xBhp'. That's it...only 4 sentences but at least i had people listening to me! :) What was I seeing? Girls? What were they doing here?
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The other chap introduced himself but i didn't hear a word since i was busy gathering my wits back. And then coffee...felt much better. Then a ride to Hedvi over the weekend was announced and 14 hands went up. Okay..so a ride out of the city. Me & Satya do that too! More more...something better than that pluheez! And then Sidhu, a lanky smiling surd, got up and started explaining the rules to become a member. Hmmmm...promising cause there were rules to become a member??? And as the rules unfolded, it dawned on me that this was something more serious than just a bunch of Bulleteers riding across the city making a lot of noise.
The rules for induction were:
1. Attend at least 4 RS meets (10points)
2. Ride along for at least 3 day trips (20points)
3. Ride along for at least 1 trip with an overnight halt. (30points)
Idea seemed to wean away wannabes who weren't serious about riding and were rather interested in posing. Forms were distributed to be filled out by the new members, a new yahoo group was announced. A girl from Symbi, Deboshree, who was trying to complete an assignment on "socio-cultural impact of biker communities on the society" kinda topic, tried to explain what it was to a lot of nodding heads, wide open eyes and grinning faces. She wanted to make a documentary as well and of course she was whole heartedly welcomed! Guys remain guys no matter what!
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By now I was already riding along towards Hedvi in my mind. The idea was at least to become a member if nothing else. So the Hedvi ride would get condition#3 out of the way. As people dispersed after what was a 30min meeting, i saw Doc, who later was assigned to me as a 'Mentor'. See, I told you it was serious business! Meetings later, the junta who was to continue on for dinner was the only one left. What the heck, I didn't have dinner at home and since the dinner venue was in Camp, I decided to stay along. Seems like the best decision I've made in a long time cause that's where i actually got to meet most of the old timers. Serious people who probably started the group and had stories of rides, incidents and meets to talk of. People who moved away to different city for a while but back again. People who could dismantle a bike on a lazy Sunday afternoon and put it back together just cause there is nothing better to do! Came to know that the founder was working for RE cause he prolly knew a lot more about the Bull's than the morons at RE. Nice cause we now have at least one sane head inside! Rajat, Adil, Kamal, Manish seemed like nice quiet guys. Tinu & Baljeet had a zillion hilarious stories to share and seemed like the ones who keep the cheer flowing in the club. Stories of old members how never came back, the mech Alex, rides with seized up Bulls....all in all, these seemed to be the wise old learned men. And their wives! Grown ups with their wives who know the group just as much as their men is always good sign. No stupid messy business. Guys comfortable enough with each other to bring along their better-halves speaks a lot right? I was at ease, chatting and finally feeling like i had a fair chance of belonging here. More importantly, it felt like i 'should' be one amongst them cause here were a bunch of guys dead serious about having fun with their bikes! Guys from different walks of like, HR, IT Programmers, Businessmen, Custom Painters, Dhaba owners, all together & bonding cause of ONE single reason - their love for the Bull and biking!
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WAY TO GO RS! If a people move along but still want to come back given a chance, if people stick along beyond the regular biking as friends, then RS has more than enough material for the Symbi girl-Deboshree to capture! I'm looking forward to the ride to Hedvi tomorrow....