Well, I wont say that I'm a biker who follows all the traffic rules. But when I'm on the road, I make sure that I dont get hurt, and more importantly, that I dont hurt my bike. Oh yeah, I also make sure I dont hurt anyone else. My logic is that when you are in a public place, your actions are bound to affect others too, and hence, one must be extremely careful about what one does.
But then, whats life without some fun? :->
I dont know what it was that triggered it. Maybe it was the sight of the Ducati zipping through the traffic in the movie I just watched. (Oh BTW, if you havent seen Catwoman, DONT!! Watch it on cable. The only thing we enjoyed about the movie was the snacks -- which were obscenely overpriced, if I may add!!). Or maybe it was the hard hitting background music in the movie. Well, whatever it was, the moment I got on my bike, I felt this urge to just zip away! The 16 horses were pleading to be unleashed too.
So, I gave in to the urge and opened the throttle.
And I was off!! Soon, I was cutting through the snails on the road, engine roaring with delight. It was fun, approaching the vehicle in front of me at high speed, downshifting, the engine note changing to a high pitched roar, swerving just in time to avoid rear-ending the poor fellow, and then opening throttle again and zipping toward another vehicle. The whole ride was orgasmic, for the lack of a better word.
Luckily for me, it ended on a happy note, with me reaching office with my bones intact, and with Blurr's paint in place. Well, there was a hint of remorse at what I'd done. But it was so much fun!! I deserved that bit of excitement!! Will I do it again? Of course I will!!
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
My lucky stars
Monday night, at around 12:20 am, I left office for home. It was a long, tough day, and I was tired. Just as I exited my office parking lot, two guys on a Yamaha RX135 zipped past, they didnt honk, or dip lights to let me know they were behind me. Anyway, since I heard them (which biker doesnt recognize the sound of a Yamaha?!!), I was able to moveout of the way, and they passed me without incident.
A few seconds later, a couple of guys on a Libero passed me. I was alittle miffed. I thought, heck, this is a Pulsar, I can catchup with these guys and leave them far behind. So, I opened up the throttle.
Now, the road I take home, Bellary Road, is a well tarred, 6-lane road, and traffic is pretty sprase and visibility is good, at night (the road is well-lit). Also, the road has this slight downward slope (this is the point where a bridge is overhead), and a corresponding upward slope.
I passed the guys on the Libero before I hit the downward slope. By the end of the slope I was doing 110 (my sigma recorded that). When I hit the upward slope, the wheels went off the ground and I landed witha slight wobble. I hardly had any time to reflect on how lucky I was that the wobble hadnt led to a fall, cos I saw the RX135 on the road, next to the median, turned towards me, headlight, indicators smashed. The footpeg was lying some feet away from the bike. The engine was revving at its limit, and it finally gave up in a puff of metallic smoke. But I couldnt see the rider and pillion. At that moment, my bike went into reserve and the engine shut off. Parked my bike on theside of the road and went up to the bike. Saw that the rider and pillion had fallen on the other side of the median. The were wearing jeans and t-shirt and floaters. No helmet. Luckily they didnt look too badly hurt, just dazed. I heard some of the people nearby comment thatthey both were drunk.
Anyway, the only casuality of the accident was the poor Yamaha engine. I saw that the engine casing had broken and some part had fallen out. It was too dark, and my knowledge of engines is too bad, to know what had fallen out.
As I rode away from the scene, I thought, that could've been me andthat could've been my bike. Rode the rest of the distance at a safe 50kmph, thanking my stars.
A few seconds later, a couple of guys on a Libero passed me. I was alittle miffed. I thought, heck, this is a Pulsar, I can catchup with these guys and leave them far behind. So, I opened up the throttle.
Now, the road I take home, Bellary Road, is a well tarred, 6-lane road, and traffic is pretty sprase and visibility is good, at night (the road is well-lit). Also, the road has this slight downward slope (this is the point where a bridge is overhead), and a corresponding upward slope.
I passed the guys on the Libero before I hit the downward slope. By the end of the slope I was doing 110 (my sigma recorded that). When I hit the upward slope, the wheels went off the ground and I landed witha slight wobble. I hardly had any time to reflect on how lucky I was that the wobble hadnt led to a fall, cos I saw the RX135 on the road, next to the median, turned towards me, headlight, indicators smashed. The footpeg was lying some feet away from the bike. The engine was revving at its limit, and it finally gave up in a puff of metallic smoke. But I couldnt see the rider and pillion. At that moment, my bike went into reserve and the engine shut off. Parked my bike on theside of the road and went up to the bike. Saw that the rider and pillion had fallen on the other side of the median. The were wearing jeans and t-shirt and floaters. No helmet. Luckily they didnt look too badly hurt, just dazed. I heard some of the people nearby comment thatthey both were drunk.
Anyway, the only casuality of the accident was the poor Yamaha engine. I saw that the engine casing had broken and some part had fallen out. It was too dark, and my knowledge of engines is too bad, to know what had fallen out.
As I rode away from the scene, I thought, that could've been me andthat could've been my bike. Rode the rest of the distance at a safe 50kmph, thanking my stars.
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