longest trip so far

O well, nothing big, nothing philosophical about this one. I just did a bike trip....actually my first long trip on the R6..and all I remember is that it used to be the butt that would hurt on the bullet.. its inner thighs on the R6 baby. nevertheless, its all SO worth it, I would do it again anyday.
So to cut the long story short.. I manage to wake up real early... yeahh.. I did... left home at 6.05am..rode thru mist..with visor up.... lost way a coupla times( I still think Google has the map wrong at that one particular junction:-)). Rode thru plains... into rolling hills..into steep hills..back to rolling hills..and back to plains. Covered a distance of 716 miles (1146Kms!!) in 16 hours of khalis riding, with breaks only for filling my tummy or bike's. My longest trip so far... kinda decent enough distance for me to call myself a biker now I guess..lol.
Had a little fun... when I "accidentally" (read stupidly) overtook a cop(!).. and got my first ticket. O well, as they say..u pay to play the game.. it was my turn to contribute to Caldwell county's treasury that day..so no sweat!

Had only one "oh shittt" moment....when the road suddenly curved like J Lo's u know wat.. but managed to keep the bike on road...then landed into a Gora's ranch back in the woods.. expected a shotgun toting Texan redneck to come out shouting "whatcha need boy" but actually talked to a pretty gentlemanly rancher..(uh, maybe they dont act redneck with bikers:-)). Told him I was trying to find a road which google claimed to exist..but which he then told was just a dirt track thru woods suitable only for 4WDs!

It was uneventful from there on... and just rode straight into my parking lot...thank bike and thank god!

The trip route:
529 to Belville from 290
Left on 36
Right on 2429
Right on 949
Right on 1094
Left on 109 @ New Ulm
109 straight thru to 1291
1291 to 159 left @ Fayettville
Left on 955Right on 71
230 exit @Smithville
Left on 95
Right on 535 @ Smithville
Left on 20 near Red Rock
Right on 812 @ Red Rock
Left on 672
Left on 183 @ Lockhart
Right on 142
Right on 80 to San Marcos
Straight thru to 12
12 to 32 right/west
32 to 3424 left/south
3424 to 306 right/west
Right on 2673
Right on 3159
Right on 46 west to Boerne
46 to 87/46 left south @ Boerne
87/46 south to 46 right/west in Boerne
46 to 16 right/west
16 west to Bandera
Right on main St (689)
Continue on 16
Left on 337 @ medina
Right on 187
Left on 337 again
Right on 83
Right on 39
Continue straight on 27 after Ingram
Left on 16 at Kerrville to Fredericksburg
Straight on 16 to Llano
Right on 1323
Left on Willow City loop
Right on 16 to Llano
Left on 29 in Llano
Left on 1431Left on 183 @Cedar park
Right on 290 to Houston

I ended up doing 8 of the 10 best roads in Texas on this trip(acc to Ride Texas magazine, March2005 issue).

and I started blogging

This was my first post..on the other blog, the password to which I forgot:-))(yeah, thats me).It was posted on July 26, 2005.
.........................................................................
...and yeah, finally I am blogging. I thought it was only for the yuppie kids, those who carried cell phones back at the school when we oldies had never had had them though we had been through jobs! After all, the only guy from my class whom I knew blogged was Sid the kid, and he too carried a cellphone!!Anyway..so I bought my second motorcycle..('bucie baby'...my plan of calling it Bucephalus II fell through as this one s just too sleek, and sexy to have a macho name) a few days back and sudenly life is changed.

As Pom-Pom used to say, you could tell the status of my bike by seeing my mood (and vice-versa) and hell, i have hardly ben in better moods than the one I usually have these days.The motorcycle is also the reason I am here today blogging. No, I dont want to advertise my motorcycle, its just that so many things have been happening, and so many things have leading to so so many thoughts, and the so so many thoughts would otherwise need so so so much memory that I would forget them unless I put them down somewhere. Plus, I know my friends are bored of listening to the story-teller tell his weird stories from a far-off land;-)Cmmon Sid, be a sport, just a lil more haha!

So, I have been wondering these days how some things just transcend boundaries. Motorcycles for example. I have had the pretty baby R6 for a lil more than a week and it seems i already have tons of Texan friends, at least out on the road. From the cute lil white gurrl waving at me to the 5-7 mexicans in the truck who asked me to 'lift it up' inspite of just having almost run me over, to the pretty white gurllz looking sideays until they could no more and to the truck guy asking me to pop a wheelie and then telling somebody over his phone that he had a 'Ducati or something guy' standing next to him at the signal, it just goes on.

I am just awed by the metamorphosis. Suddenly, people dont seem to care nothing about race, or being stranger or anything. suddenly, you are not a brown guy, or a white guy, or a black or hispanic guy, now I am just a motorcycle guy, and they know for sure that motorcycle guys are zestful guys. So that feeling of comfort steps in, comfort of being around a guy who has zest for life, also a lil awe of somebody who 'seemingly' risks, but lives his life, and well, maybe even that pang deep down somewhere, which tells you that you never gonna be like this.. never gonna be that free, stupid bird, never aint gonna be Jonathan Livingston Seagull!!!!!

my lil story

Like every other Punjabi munda, I fell in love with a Bullet in 11th std I think. Started pestering my parents for buying me one when I got into engg college. Succeeded in second year! So bought a 1994 bullet sometime in Oct 1997.

Was just the usual poser, with only a few real 'rides', but some where down the line, started doing more and more riding, esp during my 2 year stay in Kerala from 02-04. Also, somewhere, sometime, the need for speed,which had been there always though, grew from a craving to a monsterous hunger . Rode crazy over half of Bangalore. Hosur road was my playground. I would ride to electronics city and hear people saying they come in Bus because u cant get past 40 on hosur road. I would say yeah (while laughing inside probably) because I used to run out of throttle on around 2-3 stretches! Well, if u r from bangalore and have seen a machismo running stupid on hosur road with "SLOW SUCKS" written at the back of rider's helmet, then you now know who it was.(oops, I confessed!).

ok getting back to the point, I knew all I needed was a SBK. but how the f*** do I afford it . Except for getting jealous whenever I saw a SBK once in a while and trying to race them on the bullet..ha..yeah.. I tried (one RD guy had SO beaten me once..lol), I couldnt do much else.

I was almost on the verge of buying a RD(something s better than nothing u c), and behold, I m posted off to US on a long term assignment(hopefully it will last). Foremost thing that I was sure of, was that I knew I was gonna quench the thirst. Toyed with the idea of a cruiser, even a sport tourer because I wanted to travel, but finally brought a crotchrocket.. a yami R6, as nothign less than a pure crotchrocket could gimme the elixir that I needed to drink. Now, 4 months, 8500kms, two track days, 260kmph later, I wake up and thank God everyday, for giving heaven to a sinner!

But let me add this in the end.. for all those like me who will read this, who want and WILL buy their SBKs one day(yeahhh, keep the spirit up!!), the thin line separating life from death on a SBK(or any powerful thing for that matter), is RESPECT!

Respect your source of power, your machine, wonder about it, feel overwhelmed by it, never compete with it, because the day you start thinking you have mastered everything about it, that is the day your countDOWN starts!
Yes, dont become the machine's slave, become its master, but NEVER EVER allow ur mind to think you have mastered it ALL! Because most probably, you, or me, not even Rossi, ever will!