Satellite.kid

As a biker, I would hate to be called a Commuter. But my conscience tells me exactly that I am! For I have hardly done anything to be called, say a Tourer. I have known to ride motorcycles for almost a decade now, but it was only after 2003 that I started riding motorcycles regularly (the year I got my first job). Now, I am 29 years old and I have only been doing “home to office to home” stints, except very small rides on Delhi – Jaipur highway.

Like many of us bikers, I was fascinated by this wonderful two wheeled machine since childhood. Atleast as kids, we have all ridden a bicycle and even then we loved the rush that we would get while leaning for a turn. And a tv series called the “Street Hawk” only amplified that biking spark, how can I forget that countdown 5-4-3-2-1 vrooomm 300 miles per hour! Obviously, we have kissed the tarmac quite often then but as far as I can remember, it taught us lot of things about controlling a two wheeler in different situations. But riding a motorcycle for the first time was like a revelation to me. Suddenly, the road, lane and corners around my home which I had known like the back of my hand for years felt new! There was no paddle to move it! Both my hands and a flick of my left leg toe were required to be in motion! And though I had ridden numerous times as a pillion before, the feeling of controlling the power of the engine myself made for a whole new experience.

Fast forward to the Present and I am an experienced biker having owned three different motorcycles. My first bike was a Hero Honda CBZ followed by the wonderful Karizma and now a Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 5S. I have enjoyed all three bikes very much but my favourite would be the Karizma, also known as ZMA among bikers, out of the three. Each of these motorcycles brought unique experiences in some way or the other. CBZ was the lightest of the three but had solid feel to it and was a very good bike to ride in city. Karizma was like a magic carpet...smooth is the key word here. It was amazingly smooth, there was no bike in India that would equal it on almost all counts. Fast, extremely reliable, smooth, beautiful, equally good handling and the attention magnet. Its still is! Bullet is a completely different breed altogether. It’s slow, heavy, unpredictable when it comes to its electricles and cables, lazy handling machine, but it has its own charm. You have to be a die hard bullet lover to keep one for a long time.

I have been riding motorcycles regularly since 2003 and I always wear minimum safety gear i.e., a helmet, good gloves and shoes – now why I mentioned this will come in shortly! One thing I like about myself is that nobody ever had to tell me to wear a helmet, atleast. I have always worn a good helmet and a decent pair of gloves as well. Recently, I bought a riding jacket with necessary protectors at shoulders, elbows and back and a good helmet as well. Now I obviously didn’t plan to wear it on “special” occasions like a ride on a highway. I wear my riding jacket each day as I go to my office and I gather good attention as well! I mean, seriously, how many guys one see wearing a cool helmet, gloves (especially in summers) and a decent riding jacket while on the road. And this is what is somewhat surprising and shocking to me. Not many people seriously think about safety on the road especially on a two wheeler. I can guess different types of thoughts that people get when they see me all dressed up like a racer, well almost! And I am sure that some people even conclude that I want to ride fast or race because of my riding outfit! See, those stares tell a lot of things, good and bad both!

I attended my first XBHP get-together in 2004 in Delhi after I bought my Karizma. XBHP was a small group then and the g2g was even smaller. We all went for a ride at Dumdama lake, spent some time there and headed back to our homes in the afternoon. It was a nice meet and I really enjoyed it since it was my first experience of a biking get-together. It was also the first time I ever went on a highway riding a motorcycle! Since then, I have wanted to go on a long ride comprising of more than one day, a motorcycle tour basically. But I haven’t been able to make it happen till now. What I have been able to do is attend numerous get-togethers and go on few hours ride on a highway, that’s it, apart from my daily commuter routine! And not to mention, I hate it when I think about it like this! I mean, I love motorcycles and every good thing related to it. My friends and colleagues at work think of me as a “cool” biker. My family is aware of my motorcycle interests. And I am quite unique in my friend circle when it comes to acquiring riding gear. I like to have it really good (as much as my budget can allow). Not everyone thinks like that. And all I do is commute! Not that you do not require all this stuff while commuting. Infact, a good riding gear becomes all the more important when you are riding your motorcycle every day covering a distance of over 60kms!

But, this is the purpose of my article here. I personally would hate to realize that I have been just a commuter so far, as a biker! I know it’s not a bad thing but I would not like to remain one. A commuter is as much a biker as anybody else who loves riding bikes. It’s all about how you feel inside. I could blame my work schedule for not giving me enough time or leaves so that I could plan, take out my motorcycle and go out for a few days so that I could change the title that I have given myself into something which I would actually love! May be I could also blame my friends for being spoilsport when it comes to go out on a motorcycle tour! I might also blame my current ride, Bullet, for not giving me enough confidence to take her out on a highway. Even a puncture in a bullet can be the most torturous experience on a highway! Or may be, I simply haven’t tried hard enough!

But I am determined to change all this, someday, sometime, surely. I have to work, and work for it hard to make it a reality. Because I am just tired of looking at mesmerizing photographs of others who have gone out and seen the things on two wheels. Photographs that put a smile on my face even when they are not mine! I know that the world out there is dangerous and there’s too much impatience and aggression on the road nowadays. And riding on two wheels for long distances may not be the safest thing to do. But for arguments sake, being safe is in one’s hand whether you are on a motorcycle or a car. When you are in control of a vehicle it doesn’t matter if it’s a two wheeler or a four, you are in charge of your own safety. Ofcourse, you have to look out for smart asses who think they are as good as Rossi and Schumacher! The point is, you have to be careful on the road irrespective of the type of vehicle you are in/on.

The world has many beautiful and wonderful things for us to see. Things that inspire and give us the reason for our existence! And as they say, the journey is more important than the destination. And that’s god damn right! Motorcycling can make a trip more worthwhile than anything else. How can I say this even when I haven’t gone out enough? you might ask! Well, I am a biker at heart and I know I am right!

Hopefully, I’ll be penning down my first motorcycle tour soon. Ride on!

Sachin Sen

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The Chronicles of Motorcycling - The Man, The Machine and The Road

sunilg

Topic approved and moved to General Biking Discussion.

Sachin: Nicely written Sachin. While reading it, i almost felt like sitting in front of you and talking to you.

Like you already said, its not about being a commuter or a tourer or a stunter,its about being a motorcyclist. If you so badly want it, it will come sooner or later.

To boost your confidence in your own abilities and your machine, just start taking the shorter trips (1-2 days long) and then you can move on to bigger targets as things progress and you start feeling good about it.

And forget about friends, they'll follow you and be jealous of you once you are back from your trips and show them the pictures. its just the matter of time.

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(Been There Done That) x 3.25

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IlangoForBiking

Well said bro. But repeatedly you called yourself a commuter. IMO there is one difference between a commuter and a biker. A commuter goes from A to B using his bike. According to him its just a machine. A biker too goes from A to B. But according to him its not just a machine. Its more than that. I can clearly see that you are a biker my friend not a commuter. Like everybody else here. We are the biker creed. Like Sunil G said start your trips with a single day. No offence to you but i'm 20 and i've already done three long rides. All of them were 1 day trips. Just 250kms up and down. You too can do it. You can start a fine sunday morning and come back the same night. A silent countryside would be a great start. It'll help you relax. And its normal for people in a country like India(no offence to India) to stare at bikers who wear protective gear. They may think that you would race in cities, breaking laws etc. WTH, you are not gonna meet them anyway. So just ignore them. Wearing protective gear is a necessity and doing it just makes you a person who is aware of the dangers. All of us have to kiss the tarmac one day or the other. Even i did it two days back though i escaped with a few scratches in my hand. But that didn't stop me from biking(i'm already planning for the next trip). It made me more aware and its one another experience from which i learnt. So take a day for a long trip and enjoy riding. We all do and we wanna share that experience, make other experience our experience. Hoping to see your album and an article soon on xBhp with you and your bike on a highway. Happy riding my friend. Take care.

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More CC or Torque or Bhp doesn't decide who wins. Its the soul of the biker. Splendour and Pulsar are the same as long as the bikers share the same passion.

Satellite.kid

Thanks Sunil for approving

Well I did not write this with the thought "what/who is a commuter?". I just wrote it with the feeling that even though I am a biker, a long biking trip hasn't happened yet! Just thought of sharing my feelings

And yeah Sunil, I do trust my abilities as a biker but you know, bullets are quite unpredictable...yeah yeah I know they have gone to Khardungla haha

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The Chronicles of Motorcycling - The Man, The Machine and The Road