Day 1 - December 31st, 2015
AR Rahman’s music is magical, I said to myself, when I heard the song “Neetho ala” (from the movie ‘OK Bangaram’) play somewhere in the distant back ground. I was in deep sleep for I was awake till late, last night. And the song was soothing... And it immediately hit me! That’s my ringtone! I am getting a call!
I could barely open my eyes, I did not want to actually. However, I managed to get up and walk my way into the hall and grab my phone before the call got disconnected, only to find that it was a call from my service provider! God! I hate when this happens! I just ignored the call and crashed on the couch. And before I fell into my usual deep sleep, my mom asked me to check my messages for there were some notifications being shown. So, I got up again and checked to see whose messages they were. Those messages were in our ‘Family’ group in WhatsApp where my sister and brother-in-law were having a conversation with my brother, Maddy. Remember I had told you that he was out sailing to some islands and was expected to return only on 3rd January 2016? Well, looks like they reached Vizag early that morning. He was explaining how they reached the Vizag harbor just minutes ago. And I quickly checked the time of the message; it read 9:09am. I looked at the time and it was 09:16am. I crashed on the couch again and told my mom about his return with my eyes closed. Mom-dad were happy to hear from him and they knew that since it would be a weekend soon, Maddy might come home for the weekend, or so I thought. Out of nowhere they both said simultaneously, “You know if he agrees you could go visit him. Would you like that?” Strangely, that was exactly what I had on my mind while I was trying to sleep. “How about I ride to vizag, meet Maddy, celebrate New Year with him, go to Araku and visit some beaches and then return on 3rd January 2016 just like I planned to return from Cochin? It will be approximately 2000 kms ride, I mean, I might get tired but it would totally be worth it.” I was thinking to myself when they asked me that. And that’s it! My eyes quickly opened up completely. I got up on my feet immediately and took my phone and started calling my kid brother. But, he must have still been in the submarine or may be in the harbor, because the reception is worse there and I could not get hold of him. I kept trying for the next 10-15 minutes in vain. I left a couple of messages but did not receive any notifications confirming that they have been delivered and it was clear that he did not have reception wherever he was then. Rather than wasting time, I quickly freshened up. I had my breakfast and was more than quick enough to pack my stuff and after that I kept calling him again. It was still the same, all it said was “The number you are trying to reach is currently not reachable!”
Now, I knew that even if I would get hold of him, he would certainly ask me not to come because he would want to come home after almost a month of sailing. He must be home-sick, after all. And most importantly, he would want to see our (now very mischievous) 9 month old nephew, Avyan. You can see below clearly.
So, I decided that if he says anything like that I would still go to Vizag, pick Maddy up and immediately return to Hyderabad the next day morning. I know, I wasn’t thinking straight and it was clearly desperation that took over in that instant. With all these thoughts in my head I kept calling him. But nothing happened. I could not reach him.
It was 10:05am now. And dad started to hesitate now… because Vizag is 700kms away from Hyderabad and any rider would need a good 12 hours to travel so long and any sensible rider would start at 5 in the morning to avoid riding in the dark – Considering that I had already lost a good 5 and half hours of my ride time, dad wasn’t happy and he gave me 5 minutes to leave or stay back. I could see my mom was already changing her mind and I did not want that. I quickly took my backpack and told them that I was going to start immediately and if Maddy calls and says otherwise I would return home. But my actual plan was to convince him to stay for the night because by then I would reach Vizag and then the next morning we would both return together to Hyderabad. And so... I started off on my journey, my first solo ride!
Here is the odometer reading just before my journey began (Ignore the digital timer on the console, it is fast by an hour - A big thanks to the 'KTM Hitech City' for that! - I did not get time to set it correctly)
And so began my first solo ride (An impulsive one), amidst so much confusion, doubts and obvious hidden fears. Yes, I was scared. I was scared if I would reach Vizag safely. If I would survive riding in the dark, if I should just shut up and sit at home rather than going on those nasty highways without any license. I was scared and I admit it. It is but obvious when you decide to travel alone. It must be natural, I told myself.
First, I stopped at the Petrol station close to my home. I had my bike fueled almost fully just the other day (as you may notice in the above picture), now I got the remaining of it filled too. The worst part of the complete ride was this part about the bike - The puny 9 and half liter fuel tank which will have to be filled after every 200 odd kms will eventually frustrate you. Then I got the air pressure checked and unfortunately there was no digital one there and I had no time to go find one, so I just got it over with (Mistake # 1). I asked him to fill the KTM RC recommended 25 and 32 in the front and rear respectively. And that's when I actually started off my journey... towards Ramoji Film City I headed for the Vijaywada highway while I was humming the song 'Ghar se nikalthe hi' (It is such a soothing song, it brings me back to being normal and with all the excitement around, I needed it).
It took me more than an hour to reach Ramoji Film city in the traffic and I kept asking people for directions and once I was there... I checked my phone for calls. Unsurprisingly, there were two from my mom and one from Maddy. I called Maddy told him about my trip and he was hesitant but he said okay sooner than I thought. Informed mom that I was gonna take the highway in just about 5 minutes. Only then did I realize that this was actually happening, I was indeed on a road trip and all by myself. Everyone's okay with it now and I dropped a couple of texts informing my sister too. From here, there is no going back I said to myself. I promised myself that I would not get carried away and not act stupidly and promised that I would not break my promise, no matter what.
After 108 minutes into the ride, I was on the beautiful highway riding towards Vijaywada, minding my own business and sticking to the left side of the road at comfortable speeds of 120-130kmph. Occasionally I would overtake cars from their right side and then slide back to the left side of the road. And the road was flawless without any pot holes or speed bumps. For God knows what reason, I suddenly opened the throttle, I was doing my usual 132kmph and the speeds started to rise higher. In no time, I reached my previous top speed of 147 kmph, I'd never touched 150 kmph till now. I never really got an opportunity on such beautifully laid roads to touch the 150 mark. So, I let the speeds rise higher and higher.. And in the process, I did my best-till-date speed - I rode at 168kmph. And that gave me a high! It was an amazing experience. No matter how hard I try to describe that feeling, you wouldn't understand. It just has to be experienced first hand. I could see all those cars and trucks standing still in my rear view mirrors. It was like the whole world took a pause and gave me way as if bowing down to me. You might be thinking that it is an exaggerated statement. But no, you should have seen the rear view mirror and you would agree to it. It was effortless for my RC 390! However, after reaching 163-165kmph it started showing lag in catching speeds. KTM claims the top speeds to be 178kmph, so naturally the bike will find it a little difficult from 165 kmph onward until its top speed. I dont think I will ever try this madness again. I wont definitely clock such high speeds in the near future that I am sure of. I dont see that happening. So, this was the best part of the whole ride.
On my way there were some beautiful places (like the one above) where I wanted to stop my bike and take some snaps. But clearly I could not afford that during this ride. Because, like I said I lost my most precious 5 n half hours of ride time which usually is the time when there is minimal traffic and riders are usually most fresh during those hours. More importantly for me, I was shit scared of riding in the dark so I promised myself that there would be no photographs on my way. The 'pictures-time' would be my return ride when I will start at 5am as planned, I told myself. Because, you know the kind of stuff that happens in the nights on the highways, you wouldn't believe it. And yet, I could not stop myself from taking some photographs on my way (Mistake #2).
This one is when I reached river Godavari. Just after my mom's native place, this is, where couple of my Aunts reside. I could have stayed at my Aunt's place had it become dark. So, I had a plan B, after all. But I didn't need it for I was so fast that I crossed my mom's native at around 4:10pm. It is almost 420kms away from Hyderabad. You know, I had reached Vijaywada (311 kms from my home) in about a little more than 3 and half hours time. Definitely my fastest 300 kms ride. And I thought, at this pace I would reach Vizag in no time. Fool I was, for thinking like that. Because, roads in Vijaywada were under construction and there were diversions every where and I took a break for lunch just after crossing Vijaywada. And the roads near by Rajahmundry were filled with pot-holes, bumps and sometimes the roads became single lane with no dividers, with constant on coming traffic and by the time I passed Rajahmundry, it was 5:15pm and it was turning dark already! I was hoping that it would only get dark after 6pm. So, I lost 45 minutes of riding in the light here. At around 5:30pm it was completely dark as if it was 7:30pm or 08:00pm. There were no street lights just the high beams of the oncoming traffic.
This is the part where all my nightmares turned into reality!
I had precisely 214 kms more to cover now and it was completely dark. And I was in no mood to stop for the night because I was enjoying the ride so much and I wanted to know my limits and my bike's too. You know, I had once read a blogger's post where he successfully attempted a bike ride of 1000 kms in a single day. And everyone in the comments posted saying it was unbelievable and exclaimed how cool it was while I, on this side of the monitor, thought "Meh, I could do that." Yes, may be I am a confident guy, right? Okay, before you answer, um, let me also clarify that I used to hear AR Rahman's music from 'Dil Se' movie back when I was a kid and think "Huh! I could play music like that. No biggie." So, you see that it could not be confidence, may be I am just an ignorant fool. Anyways, basically I was enjoying my ride, I had the momentum and I believed that I could complete 1000kms in a single day and I wanted to know if I could do at least 750kms in a day, and wanted to know how my body would take it. So, I was in no mood to stop that evening. And I kept going, even when it turned dark. You should know, it is an amazing feeling to overcome your fears. The initial 15 minutes were the worst. I was scared. I could barely see the roads. I had my visor down all along until then and every high beam from the oncoming traffic resulted in reflections on the visor and it turned me blind. (And they say these visors can be used at night too!!). Every time a vehicle came behind me, the rear view mirrors would reflect their head lights onto my visor again. So, first I had to let go off the rear view mirrors and I turned them away. I couldn't use them anymore. Soon, I took my visor off too. So, the first 15-30 minutes were time taking and decisive. I had to make a lot of adjustments, had to take a couple of unwanted breaks... sometimes, just because I was scared on those single lane roads. I think no matter what you are doing in your life, the initial moments are decisive... like the first 15-20 minutes will decide if you will make it or not. They will break you and your confidence. But, if you are strong enough then you will do it. So, I kept telling myself the same and kept going. And soon I adapted myself to the situation, and in no time I got used to it. I no longer had my visor and was comfortable riding at speeds of 80kmph. So, I knew that I would take more time now than expected because of my low speeds. After about 60-65 such struggling kms I reached the 4 lane highway to Vishakapatnam. And then I increased my speeds to triple digits again. It was still dark let me remind you. I was not ready to give up, no matter what and I liked that thing about me. I've never been that confident ever in my life. I did not even think of taking a break that night. You know, the cold breeze, those high beams, my RCs grunt after 8000rpm... all of it, I will always remember. I will always remember that night. That night will be my most treasured riding moments ever. It was like all my doubts, fears, confusion and pain were left behind on those dark lanes of that highway while I vroomed straight ahead at triple digit speeds! At one point, I thought I needed a break. But I guess I was too proud to admit it. I kept going! It was like I was waiting for my bike to give in to have that breather. But looked like my bike had my genes, after all, it was too proud to give in too and probably waited for me to give up. And so we did not stop. It kept going and pushing itself every time I opened the throttle. That night I conquered my fear (actually every rider's fear) of riding in the dark. After that night I kept asking myself why was I even scared of riding at night on the highways all these years. If you stick to your lane, mind your own business at controllable speeds and stay focused all along then you should be fine. No matter what time it is of the day. But focus is significant. People seldom talk about its importance.
It took me approximately 3 hours to complete those 214 kms. And I swear I was not even a little tired of the ride. I kept kicking myself mentally for missing out on those early morning 5 and half hours which if I had to myself may be I would have easily completed those remaining 250 kms to reach the mark of 1000kms in a single day. After 11 hours of total ride time, 567 minutes (9 hours 45 minutes) of engine run time and 700 kms later, I reached my destination or so I thought. This snap that you see of the odometer was taken at gate 2 of the Naval park where Maddy was readily waiting for me. However, I was not allowed into the Naval park from that entry gate, and so I had to go for extra 3 kms and take gate 1 to reach his Flat. By 9:30pm, we were both at his flat. I took a quick hot shower and we were back out on the road by 10:15pm.
We both went to visit the beach. But as you can clearly see in the above pictures, that night it felt like Vizag had lost it, completely! There were so many people out on the streets on the beach road that we had to park our vehicles and walk all the way. We took a stroll on the beach road. The atmosphere there was electrifying! I've seen people celebrate new year in Hyderabad but never like that. God! People yelling all around, drinking, wishing random people, taking selfies with cops, offering liquor to cops, the cops were the sweetest there. They gladly took selfies with people. It was awesome and a new year I will remember for a really long time!
And by the time, we had our dinner in one those crowded restaurants on the beach road it was almost mid-night. And right then I got this very special email from a close friend wishing me new year. (Happy New Year to you too again, if you are reading this)
Maddy and I rode around for some time and then decided to go back to his flat. And on our way, we took this snap. That's my kid brother, Maddy. I know, I know, he does not seem younger than me, you must be thinking. What can I say, I workout to stay in shape :P
And finally, if you are one of those curious types, waiting to see the author or like I call myself, your obedient narrator - Then here is my picture for those interested.
*Drum rolls*
And...
Ta da!!
I've got so many pictures to share, but for obvious reasons, I cannot. Man! Look at the size of this blog post. I know it was very detailed and most of the details were unnecessary but trust me, I tried to cut short a lot of stuff. I wanted to write so much about this ride and I haven't written a lot about it. I understand that it is just too much unnecessary information but it is all my excitement that made me write like this. So, I will spare you now and I promise to cut short the remaining parts and that the remaining posts will all be to the point.
And before I sign off now, a little something on about that night...
That night all I could think of was these few lines which I will remember always (being a batman fan) -
If you fall, you are man, but if you fall and rise, you are Batman,
If you fear, you are man, but if you fear and conquer fear, you are Batman,
If you serve, you are man, but if you serve when no one’s watching you, you are Batman.
And that dark night, I turned into the dark knight himself :P
Stay tuned to this space for the remaining part of the ride and more pictures.
See you on the other side, brother,
K
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