The Ride
Life was out there and calling out, I choose to hide behind my office desk for a few days. Then took the first step by riding my friends bike to work, the next step was biker meets. And finally it was riding out with my biking buddies. Went there, did that... It helped a LOT. But did it fix my broken biking spirit and the fear in my hear, nope! Not completely. The only fix for this was to be found in forgeting the past. Move On! was the tagline from Fastrack watches and that is precisely what I did. I moved on. I wanted to ride to a destination I am comfortable with yet at the same time gave me enough to see if I still had it me.
26th July 2010: I started later than my usual starting time, went to an ATM looted cash from it for fuel for my "LoneWolf" and me. As soon as I moved out onto the highway from the busy streets of Bangalore I immedieately felt at home on the highway. It was smooth crusing from here on Mysore road till I reached the place where I was to take the short cut to cut across from SH17 to SH88. In the middle of this shortcut I decided that I must not push my now untrained backside too much, so I took my first break 150Kms and 2.5 hours into the journey. The traffic on Mysore road till here (Srirangapatna) had eaten up the average speed quite a bit.
I sat down here and realized the first cardinal sin in biking that I commited today, I did not carry water. But it was ok, I was riding, just me, my bike and the open road. Water could be arranged at the next village that would come up. I sat down on the 'culvert' and reminisced about my last ride on this route. I chuckled to myself rememebering that last time I took my first break on the foot hills to Madikeri after taking almost the same time as now. Quick check up of things actually showed I was faring decently well, this was helping repair my dented ego to a large extent. Time to start and start blasting again. The roads hadn't changed much this past one year, they were still as pock marked as they were before. The moment I was on SH88, I was very comfortable with relatively emptier roads that lay in front of me. Stopped at a small shack by the road for a bottle of water, but that was just a small break in my almost non-stop run.
It was all coming naturally to me, yes there was a little fear. Especially if I'd see someone trying to cross the road be it on foot or in a vehicle, instinct would trigger an almost knee-jerk reaction to slam the brakes. It took some time and a few kilometers under my belt to calm my senses get back to riding in India. This ride was not about photography, nor was it about exploring new places. The excuse for this ride was to devour some authentic food availble at these places, but the real intention was to repair my dented biking spirit. Somewhere post Hunsur, came little drops of rain and with that out came my rain gear. Now this is what I call upping the game. Rain is nemesis of many bikers, I on the other hand "Love" riding in the rain. And this emotion was buried deep inside, under a blanket of fear. With my rain gear on I gingerly started my bike, and slowly increased the pace. I was comfortable again, wat started after this was mild showers and it was like phoneix being reborn.... I could feel the last strands of fear disappear into oblivion as the pure joy of riding in the rain took over like the cold wave rushing throughout my body with the cold droplets of rain.
The rain went as soon as it had come, but it had done exactly what I had hoped for, I cleansed my from deep within. I was felt free again, I did not feel like holding back anymore. Gunned the throttle wide open the moment I saw a stretch of open road. I felt completely in control, I felt safe and most of all I felt relieved that I could still ride the way I ride. Then I heard a distant rumble, my worst fears just got confirmed. My stomach was sending a SOS signal to my brain. Bylakuppe was just around the corner and there was this lovely little restraunt which served pretty authentic Momo's and that was the first stop for breakfast for the day. But before I turn into Bylakuppe. I took a small break to click some pictures.
With a rain gear over all my riding gear, pulling out an SLR out of a bag and then clicking pictures is something that requires oodles of patience and planning before one stops for a picture. I should have actually just bought along my P&S for this ride to ease out things. Even now I regret not doing that. After this short break, I turned in towards India's second largest Tibetan settlement to do deep inside all the way till the Golden Temple. Visiting the temple was not on my agenda as I had been there on two occasions earlier. But devouring some authentic momo's was definitely on the agenda. Pulled into a tiny restraunt that goes by the name Olive, my last visit here in Feb'09 was a mouthwatering visit and had decided last time itself that I'd make a re-visit to this place soon. Soon took almost 17 months to happen. Since this was only supposed to be breakfast and more mouthwatering stuff lay ahead for me in Madikeri. I stuck to Chicken Momo's and din't go all guns with the Thukpa as well. A family siting on the next table would throw curious glances at me once in a while as I looked like an alien and did alien things like clicking my bike's pictures, clickng some abstract pictures of a pepsi bottle. Finally momo's arrived and out came my camera again to click some pictures of the mouth watering steamed delight's. The lady on the next table could not hold back her curiosity any more and asked me if I was from some magazine.LoL.
Finally the MOMOS
50 bucks for a plate of yummylicious momos, absolute paisa vasool breakfast. I'd say, I paid up and left the place. It was not raining in this region but it would drizzle lightly once in a while. As I moved away from this place to get back onto the highway to Coorg, there was one place where I just had to stop to take pictures. It is here I learnt another lesson in biking about, loose objects, wind and cow dung.LoL. I had left my gloves on the seat loose when it was really windy and my bike was parked right next to a freshly laid lump of green watery cow dung. I did see it and ignored it thinking I can't be that unlucky. Lol. As soon as I moved away from my bike, a strong gush of wind came and the inevitable happened. Splat, right into the dung. Out came a bottle of drinking water to wash off this important manure. Finshed my entire bottle to cleanse the glove of this. This was the spot where I had stopped.
I had'nt removed my rain gear despite the very mediocre showers, for ahead lay some heavier showers. After the town of Kushalnagar the roads usually go from bad to worse, but I was pleasently surprised to see freshly laid tarmac here. Immeadiately after the landscape changes as you begin the upward climb towards Madikeri, the route goes through forests and coffee plantations. It was really beautiful with the rain in the atmostphere.
It was really beautiful, but could not capture any further because of the rains and moreover I didn't intend this being a ride for photography. The climb to Madikeri took a lot lesser time than usual thanks to the butter smooth road. As soon as we enter Madikeri town which is on the other side of the hill its feels as though one has entered from a rain shadow area. Rains were lashing down hard on Madikeri, I just directly headed down the to the only restraunt in town that served authentic stuff. I was trully a funny sight as I entered in the restraunt, but the owner was courteous enough made some space for me so that I din't soil his restraunt 'Coorg Cuisinette' too much. Pork was on my mind and pork was ordered swiftly. The rains had abated a bit, and took out my camera for a sneak peak view of Madikeri town from the restraunt.
Soon enough my order of Pandi (Pork) Curry, Pandi Chops, Akki Otti (Rice roti) and lemonade made from Coorgi honey arrived all at once. Burp! The momo's had just been digested, but it looked too tempting to even stop to think. As I gobbled down my first pork chops I realized that I had not clicked a picture of this, so with half greasy hands and a half hearted attempt I clicked a pic of this...
After a hearty meal of pure Pork bliss, I had to sit down for a while for all of it to settle in. It was nearing about 2PM when I had polished off all the pork in front of me. Paid the bill, geared up and headed into town for some shopping of coorgi honey and pandi curry masala. Sadly the market was under renovation and I was in no mood to walk around in rain gear+riding gear. So I ditched this plan, did a quick round of the town and stopped just get this one picture.
Left town not with a heavy heart but a heavy stomach. Took a small break to get the last of my pictures of the rain swept ghats.
The down from here was pretty uneventful and almost non-stop in nature. I stopped only once to shed my rain gear as the rains had stopped beyond a certain point and the mercury started soaring.
I knew this was most probably the last break I would be taking and rightly so, after this break then next stop was only once I reached home. This ride did a lot for me in terms of bringing back my confidence to ride and even to a large extent a belief in myself and my ability to ride. I realized yet again, that shit happens. There's is no point in holding back in life for such trivialities, one must learn what such events have to offer and learn to "Move On" "Fight On" & "Live On"..................
Epilogue
Nothing really... There is no end to the 'madness' of biking and I hope I can continue to keep on riding till the bones in my body can't take it anymore.