Friendship Day Ride !!

Biker Brothers - Friends Forever !!

Friendship Day it was, and what better day to celebrate this event with some of my bestest friends. Brothers form my Biking family. Captain Chitins had planned a smallish ride to show Venkat Shyam, our friend from Auto Service Bangalore, the places around Pune as well as give him the chance of riding Captain’s latest acquisition – The Pulsar 220 DTSFi. We were supposed to reach a place called Chandani Chowk on the outskirts of Pune at around 8:30ish but then something held us back and we managed to get there only by 9. Nalin was the first one to drop out owing to a flat tyre. Praveeen Shirali had work on his hand and on a Sunday was zooming off to office.

So off we rode from CC, Suyash n Skipper on their Avengers (Both Red) me on my 1976 Yezdi model B and Venkat on Captain’s 220. Captain’s wife and friends followed us in the Cage – ala – the Santro. Somehow Rain Gods were oh so merciless on us that it kept pouring continuously all the way as we rode up from Paud towards Mutha Ghats and then further on to the base village near Lavassa Dam. The first break we took was at the Lavassa Dam where we saw one fantastic view of the Dam sluice gates open and water gushing down like crazy. Then started the climb with Captain leading the way and we negotiating the "twisties" with ease. The second stop was on the top of the Lavassa Dam where we rode on the Dam top and enjoyed the strong gusts of wind and the choppy waters that flowed underneath.

A few pics later we were off again towards the top. The visibility dropped drastically as we climbed and the clouds descended. Shivers ran up my spine as temperatures dropped and the rainwater started seeping inside my jacket. We crossed the main gate of Lavassa city and kept riding till we reached the end of the road inside a village. Further we trekked down a muddy and slushy path to have a glimpse of the amazing valley beneath. The whole environment was getting more and more mistier and we were charging through it like Raiders of the Storm. A brief halt and some clicks later we turned back towards Lavassa City.

On coming back to Lavassa main gate we saw a whole lot of other Biker’s there. These were mainly guys from various Biking and Stunting groups from Pune namely RSA, AIR X-BHP etc!!. We stopped and what followed was a very very warm exchange of words. We also met up with Bhuvan who is an avid biker himself and had just acquired a swanking new Black Pulsar 220 and had already broken in the bike by scraping the rear mudguard doing sky-scraping wheelies. We took a few snaps here and then decided it was time for us to move back. The rain had drenched me and my poor hapless pillion so badly that I decided to ask her to hitch a ride back in the cage. No point exposing her to the elements especially with no weather protection whatsoever. She quietly sulked, biking enthusiast that she is, and got off and sat in the car. But then she practically leaned out of the window trying to capture the ride downhill through some really amazing pictures. We took the curves with even more panache as the rains had gone down by some amount but were replaced by solid cross winds. The bikes literally flew with every gust of strong cross-wind and before we could decide how to over-steer or under-steer to tackle things beyond our control the bikes would have moved ahead on their own. Somehow we reached the bottom of the hills and stopped next to the overflowing dam once again. Captain was over-jubilant with this ride and the pictures definitely do show the same effect in his charming smile and enthusiastic gestures. KICKASS ride this was !! One HELLUVA Kick-Ass Ride !!

The ride back from Lavassa was rather boring as the rains were still there but then by now the journey back was getting more and more boring. I incidentally crossed the 1,23,000 km mark on my heavy metal bike. She was doing awesome all through the ride but then the only issue was the horn and lights..Poor and probably as bright as candles. What more can u expect from a 31 year old alternator…

The last stop was at Buninda’s Dhaba where we filled our tummies, then tanked up at a petrol pump nearby and zoomed off into the horizon. We reached home around 3ish and then relaxed for a little while. There was one more adventure awaiting us in just an hour’s time.

Wait and watch for the next entry to read the next adventure !!!

Pictures of the Friendship Day Ride !!