The other day I was returning home from my sisters place and when I mounted my bike, the
clock had just corssed the 10:30PM mark. From Tolichowki I had to get back to Vijaynagar
colony as fast as I could for I had to b in the office at 6am next morning(even otherwise I
don’t need any reason to go fast:)).
I mounted my cherry colored 1994 Kawasaki KB100, turned on the ignition to get the neutral
light glowing and it came to life in just about 3/4th of the kick. With my feet still on the
ground, I adjust the rear view mirrors while I give the engine a little time to warm up and
press the clutch so that the plates inside get a nice doze of lubricants.
The start line(I mean my sis house) is about half a kilometer away from the main road so I
ride it slowly till I get there. Once on the main road I gradually work up the gears while
twisting the right palm gently and notice the speedometer needle increasing its angle along
with the Tachometer and it crosses the right angle at 70kmph when I see about 4 bikes ahead
of me and I notice the rear of a pretty new Pulsar 150 but ina flash I go past them, the
right palm still opening up the throttle as the next couple of kilometers is an almost
straight wide road with some traffic. I am in my black jean, jacket, helmet and the gloves
along with the long police boots and just about half a kilometer after I had overtaken the
bikes, I notice a light closing in in the rear view mirror and I ease up a little just to
check if my guess of it being the same Pulsar 150 is right and Yes I am. IT comes close and
close and just gets out of the view of the mirror and he is right there beside me. We just
signal each other with a slight bow of the head and the pulsar tries to pull away. Both the
bikes doing over 80KMPH for the next kilometer or so with a little bit of traffic( I wish
the road were lit even better). I respect the other guy as he was giving signals of his
movements well in advance and so did I when I was ahead of him as we kept exchanging
positions( 1st and 2nd LOL) by the time I realised, I has even went past the right turn
which I had to take to get home and a little ahead was a wide left turn with a fly over
starting after it. I was taking the outer line and realised that the pulsar was flashing the
left turn signal indicating that its not gonna go over the flyover but by that time it was
too late for me to change the line(with taking a big risk) and I decided to fly over the
flyover:). The guy on the pulsa noticed this and slowed down and we waved at each other. I
had to get down the bridge on the other end and I safely got back home a few minutes later.
I got back home, relieved myself and changed and lying on the bed I started thinking - Was
it necessary Yaser? Y do you have to go so fast? Can’t U go slow? U are crazy.
Fresh from the high speed adrenaline boost I found all the long days tiredness disappear. I
laid in the bed recollecting the excitement of the speed before sleep finally overtook me
and I was again englufed in some high speed dreams and I think I found the answers to my
questions.
Speed and mesmerized MAN from time immemorial. Have you seen the Classic BENHUR? Its more
about speed than anything else if you remember the race. Look back in history and you will
find tales of men and their horses and their passion for better, stronger and faster horses
and how people studied and bred faster horses and raced them. Men had a wide range of choice
of breeds to choose from, some famous for their speed, some for their overall performance,
while some for their outstanding stamina.
Look around today and we can classify bikes on these categories. Some are built for
performance while some purely for mileage while some for overall performance.
Just like the horses you get bikes from different countries, different charecteristics,
different looks, different colors and varying performance and one to suit everyones budget
and you can also get the used ones for lesser price.
I have experienced this and m sure all the riders out there will agree with me that with
every passing day and kilometer that we clock, the relation between the rider and the ridden
only deepens.
Every single wash, every single cleaning session, every single minute in the garage and ever
single kilometer with it gets to closer to my bike and Yes I talk to her and we know each
others limits and we have promised to be safe first and speed next as we have to respect
each and every user of the road as every citizen has complete right on it and no one owns it
in particular.
Such emotions with a few pieces of metal, plastic, rubber etc put together? I am just
wondering the relationship a horse rider has with his beast. I am sure it is one level above
that of a bike rider.
Over the years, the human life has transformed from a more relaxed and peaceful existance in
harmony with nature to a fast, wild and mad race and not very many of the youths(at heart)
living in the urban jungles can afford the time and money a HORSE requires but thankfully we
have the BIKES which can get us closest to that feeling.
Thatz my way of justifying my craziness for a BIKE:)
Whatever breed U ride(fast, overall, mileage) wish U a safe, happy and long lasting
relationship.
feel free to share your comments/caziness with me at yaser_cyclist at the rate yahoo dot com
God Bless U,
Yaser