BIKER IN ME

First the warning:
(For those who do not love a motorcycle or for those who use their motorcycles for commuting not for riding and for those girls whose boyfriends have no clue about what motorcycle ride is all about(no offence intended), please skip this article )

No No No, Do not get me wrong because of the warning- it is not the biker as an speed maniac, it is more like biking as a philosophy and biker as a philosopher exploring his world and himself.

Ok if you think I am a person under heavy influence of drugs and heavy metal then you are wrong. No I am not. I am a biker or rather trying hard to be a biker who thinks his bike as a liberating tool rather than a transporting tool. Ok ok ok enough self praise. I have been introduced to a bike as a mode of transport as a middle class Indian. But it has got me hooked. Why? why not, when you are on your bike for that time you forget this world, you forget the grades, you forget the pressure of study, you forget every worry and you forget about that pretty girl in your class, ok you don’t forget about that pretty girl in your class, actually you think more about her. Got the point? It lets you to dream and it makes you happy.

And you feel the wind in your face, legs, hands, body, ok not in your face because you would be wearing your helmet (you should), but hey you can wear a helmet with a open face. What about that high speed drive on the national highway or that drive in the twisted road or that rain drenched ride with your girlfriend or that ride in the middle of the night ? Quite unforgettable is not it?

What about turning your bike in a high speed corner? Is it not one of your best experiences in your life? It certainly is mine. Someone has said that biking is closer to nature because you do not fight nature; you blend with it and cornering a bike and cornering a car clarifies this like broad day light. When you are cornering in a bike, you are leaning your bike and leaning yourself, you are in harmony with forces of nature and you are not fighting it, you are at peace with nature, but in a car it is a resistance, a violent struggle to keep the line, so sell your cars and start ride a bike.

And the first ride with your girl friend, your first race, your first traffic light drag race. It is unforgettable. Then for me my first Yamaha RX-100 experience, wow! When I am sad I liked to ride my bike without any destination and it has blown away my sorrows. When I am happy I ride my bike to amplify my happiness and it certainly does that quite easily. I feel I can ride and ride and ride without the destination where the journey is the destination. It gives me unadulterated happiness and that is quite a thing in today’s world. Isn’t it? When you ride you see nature in a way that is unique and quite breathtaking.

The fear and joy you experience (yes they come in a cocktail intermixed with one another ) while riding in a ghat road and pushing yourself and the bike to the limit that you can take and after every corner the sensation that how could you have done it and then the next corner, may be a little bit more lean angle or a little bit less lean angle, a little bit more speed or a little bit less speed, mid corner correction, and your mind and the body working in overdrive and you feel like freezing that moment and as I write this I am transported to that moment. I know if you have felt it, u would be feeling that now as you read it and if you have not known this experience then you should go and get that experience and you will know what it means.

One famous biker has once said “there are 2 types of biker. One that has taken a tumble and another one that is going to take a tumble”. I belong to the 1st category. I have experienced the final step to being a biker. It is something I did not like but it is there and you need to understand this to make you a better rider. That way you shall respect your bike and the road. And that will keep you safe .So safe riding.

Shall I continue? I can, but I do not want to bore you but if you really want more then I can continue the next time.

And in the mean time you must read Zen and the art of motorcycle maintance, Motorcycle diaries and Investment biker.