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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: mumbai
Posts: 160
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Indi Motorcycle Diary
Day 1, January 10, 2010
Mumbai to Nalsarovar (Gujarat)
Km: 620
Hours of riding: 9 with breaks
Money spent today: Petrol: Rs 650
Bike repairs: Rs 20
Food in dhaba: Rs 55
Tea: Rs 15
Hotel Nalsarovar: Rs 300, single occupancy
Dinner: Haven’t paid yet
After lots of planning and preparation, I started rolling for my biking trip this morning. It was difficult to get up early because I couldn’t sleep all night thinking about the big trip ahead. Somehow I managed to haul myself up at 6 a.m. As I did my final packing in the morning, I decided not to take my big camera bag and threw my camera in my tank bag. It’s always good to have one less bag.
Left at around 8 a.m., but nothing went smoothly. My early morning start was full of fumbles and my initial excitement was short lived. After about two km, my first big realization -- I had left my money on the kitchen table! Nothing else to do but take a u-turn and head back home. I never imagined I’d have to see my own door again quite so soon, but there I was. Started off again and after a half kilometer, my second realization -- this time I’d left my driving license behind! Again, I retraced my steps back home. The security guard looked puzzled and asked, “Sir, wapas aa gaye?” (You came back?). I just nodded my head and said yes, I forgot my wallet. It was a bit of an embarrassing situation.
As I headed down the road across the domestic airport bridge, my mind wondered to the possibilities of making a sleek, aerodynamic saddlebag, thinking of how I could make that a reality... Ahead in the fast lane, one taxi was chugging along very slowly. People were honking from behind and everybody was overtaking from the left. I was thinking about traffic sense (or lack thereof) and wanted to give a piece of my mind to the taxi driver, but as I overtook him I realized the driver was just an old sardar uncle. I smiled, kept quiet, and kept going.
I was able to do around 80 to 90 k in the morning crossing Mumbai, going easy and just trying to get the feel of the bike, trying to sense how it handles with luggage and to understand how it balances and brakes with load. I was happy with my choice of bike. The Karizma is a very good touring bike for India. I have used this bike in the past for my Kanyakumari to Leh Limca Book record run, for Raid the Himalaya, and for a Northeast India trip. As soon as I crossed out of the city, I was able to open the throttle and the bike went smoothly at 100 and 110. It felt stable, and I started enjoying the ride.
Soon I forgot everything else, and just became one with my bike. Forgot to drink, to eat... just pure passion for riding overtook me. The road condition is great from Mumbai to Vadodra, a four-lane road. Just as I reached close to Surat, the first rider of the day tried to overtake me. I think my ego got a little dented. He was on an Apache RTR 180 with his girlfriend, and as he overtook me he turned his head to look back, laughing at me. I couldn’t control myself, started giving more gas, overtook him and continued going at my pace. He again overtook, cutting in front of me where I could have fallen and been hurt. I couldn’t resist now... no looking back... opened full throttle, zoomed past him and was gone with the wind. After ten minutes, when he was nowhere to be seen, I began to worry for him, hoped he was fine and hadn’t had a crash. Both of them were not wearing any proper gear, not even a helmet, only glasses.
I stopped near Vadodra, after almost 450 km, as I was low on gas. I realized I needed to put fuel in both the bike tank and in myself. I’d just finished 450 km in 4 hours 40 minutes, so after refueling both tanks, I decided to go easy. On checking the bike, I saw the bolt that connects the engine to the chassis was out and the nut was missing, so I picked up a stone and banged the bolt back into chassis again, a temporary fix, and started looking about for a mechanic shop. Twenty rupees paid for the new bolt and the grease-monkey to put it on, and I was back on the road to Nalsarovar.
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