The Lack of Riding Formation and Broken Bones … Musafirs Motorcycle Ride#02
Experience is the Best teacher…
Destination: Mahabaleshwar & Panchgani
Ride#2; February 2011
Riding high on the success of first ride, The Musafirs – the biking club in Mumbai, decided to double the count of registrations. Joining us were 8 riders from Viacom (including Sajju and Khan Bhai), and my langotiya group named the Decagonz (10 members). Other registrations had flowed in through the various online forums where we had announced the ride and others from word of mouth within offices of the crew members or friends circles.
Voila! This ride to the land of strawberries (Mahabaleshwar) saw 34 registrations and the team strength of 38. It was a weekend ride (two day) – we started Saturday early morning around 05:00 hrs and the route decided was Thane-Vadkhal-Poladpur-Mahabaleshwar.
Again, just like the first ride, there was a Pilot for the whole team and a Shepherd. 25 bikes, randomly overtaking each other at will and occupying the whole road at junctions, when not knowing the direction in which to go – we honestly cut a sorry sight! Today, as I write this post, seven years later and a week before our HUNDREDTH ride, if I have to summarize what happened on that second Musafirs ride in one word, I would call it ‘CHAOS’ – But, each one of us was having fun. We enjoyed seeing the indicators flashing in the dark whenever the group was in together – although it looked like a light up flowerpot.
We managed to ride for 85 kms to reach Vadkhal. Being a shepherd, I was the last to reach Vadkhal with many riders randomly stopping along the way. Since we had lost a lot of time, the pilot was asked to increase speed so that we reach the accommodation early. Not one of the best moves!
Santosh, the pilot, opened throttle and many bikes tried to catch up – including the novices. Me, with Shona as pillion were at the shepherd and we got a call that there has been an accident! We rushed to the spot to see Amol in pain with a dislocated wrist. The story goes as this: Santosh opens throttle, completes a neat corner near Mahad, a few more bikes do it… Amol, fails to corner and rams into the railing dislocating his wrist. We took him to a hospital where the doctor set his bone in place and advised to return back to Mumbai for further treatment. The whole team from Viacom left for Mumbai with their injured colleague. Mama (Yogesh) who was riding pillion until then, rode Amol’s bike for the rest of the trip and complained of shoulder pain because of the handle ‘out’. Phew! That was our first experience with an accident in the group.
The accommodation overlooked the valley and was surrounded with strawberry fields. We spent the evening sightseeing and then the evening session began. People were introducing themselves and having a good while. It was Sajit’s bday and in the absence of a cake, he was made to cut a roti 😛
It was the first motorcycle ride for many from the group. It was also Clayton’s first ride with us and he showed us the scars that biking gave him – stitch marks across his chest and the accident which happened that morning were the topic of discussion during the session.
The next morning we visited the tableland point and did some horse-carting. On the way back, we decided to take the NH4. We stopped enroute for lunch and to grab some goodies from Mapros. By the time we did the disassembly at Kalamboli, it was late night.
The moment my bike entered into thane, it shut off. No electricals were working. Failed to identify the reason for short circuit, we used Shona’s dupatta and Sanket’s belt to tow my bike into the parking lot… it was 4:00 AM on Monday.
Another fun ride came to an end!
Learnings:
- Moderate the group speed!
- Safety takes priority over everything else … including delays
- Learn more about the machines that you love to ride … especially those that are known to break down anywhere, anytime, for no reason!
-Nicc
