To sleep or not to sleep
The next day was the day of the motorcycle trip that I had promised myself and also to some others who were curious . Curious about what is it that I would be doing during my work-break(down). All useful and useless purchases for the motorcycle trip had been done. Covid related restrictions did not make it easier to plan the trip as the state where I was going to(Kerala) had rising number of infections. This mandated some formalities like a negative RTPCR test, e-pass to the destination state. I did complete all these formalities.
Major luggage(which was a backpack) was already mounted on the motorcycle using bungee cords. This is again a first for me when I am tying a bag behind the back of my motorcycle and also finding how versatile these bungee cords are. The tank bag(mounted on tank) had smaller essential and valuable items and would be carried only in the morning. I had set an alarm for 3 am(yes that’s right, 3 am !!). As a result of the excitement I could not sleep much.It somehow felt like waiting for a gift which I am going to get and it’s a surprise. I got up much earlier than I had wanted to. I was wide awake by around 2:30 am and I thought to lie down for some more time and catch some more rest. At 3 am I got up from the bed and got ready. I went through the checklist that I had made all over again and had a breakfast of bread omelette. Then I dressed up in riding gear and was looking like an astronaut getting ready to go to space. To some extent this was unknown to me like traveling to space although not that out of the world. The riding gear including the shoes was quite heavy and gave me a sense of protection like an armor. I woke up my wife and said bye to her. She also could not sleep throughout the night because of my trip. For her too it was something new where I am going alone on a motorcycle trip and both sounded risky and scary for her. I know that it would have been so tough for her to agree on this and she kept my happiness first and agreed on this. Though both of us had traveled individually for work, vacations had always been together and motorcycle rides were just limited to groceries,shopping and maybe small weekend rides to in and around places in Chennai.
Motorcycles are almost always synonymous with danger and speed and I won’t deny it because cars are surely safer. And then a car does not give the same feeling of freedom that a motorcycle does. For me riding a motorcycle makes me feel free like a bird with wind hitting my face and exposed to the elements. Maybe you will understand this or maybe you will not.
Why so curious?
I always wanted to go for a solo motorcycle trip. Blame it on watching a lot of Leh-Ladakh trip videos on YouTube or being on two wheels from the age of 16 and never getting down from them. It’s true that no one other than me stopped me from doing such a trip and I just had too many excuses ! So this was more like overcoming a mind block for me.I feel that unlike driving a car, riding a motorcycle requires some level of physical fitness(my current motorcycle a Bajaj Avenger 220 weighs around 153 kg, imagine pushing that out a parking lot) and I realize that may be some time later even if I try that, it may not be this easy. Like there is no age to learn riding a bicycle, but then with age the injury and pain when we fall is more(at least in our mind it feels more). So I thought it’s better late than never.With this motorcycle ride I wanted to find some answers for myself. Can I go on a solo trip for a week on motorcycle? How does such a trip feel? Can my body take it and how fit am I for such a trip? How is this motorcycle for such rides? How will it be to ride in rains ? What are things that I can learn from this trip? So for me this ride was not just about the external journey but also an internal one to know about myself and finding out if I can go outside my comfort zone.
Knock..knock..who is there?
Finally I secured all luggage ,started my motorcycle and began from home on my adventure trip at 4 am. The security guard at the main gate stopped me to check my apartment details.I am sure he did not expect anyone to leave on a motorcycle at 4 am in the morning and was suspicious. Next came the second stop, which was by the policemen stationed outside the lane of my apartment. They started inquiring about the destination and purpose of my trip. This was followed by some questions around why am I going on a motorcycle and not in a car and what is my motorcycle brand name. Also one of them shared his long time wish of going for a long motorcycle ride. I answered all these patiently as I did not want any trouble from them on account of my rudeness. Although I knew that there is nothing illegal about going out on a motorcycle and they too were doing their job.Happy that I crossed this and the fact that I am making my journey, I started riding again hoping that I would not be stopped anymore.Fingers crossed.
Stealth mode and panic
I reached a place called Thiruporur which is around 30 km from my place , and made a right turn and suddenly it was all dark in my motorcycle. Headlights , speedometer and tail lamp all went off at the same time. I did not understand what was happening. It appeared that suddenly my motorcycle decided to go on stealth mode and disappear in the cover of darkness so that no one could see it. This was surely not a good sign to start my journey with. Fear,panic and hopelessness struck at the same time. I thought, since my journey is mostly going to be during day time, I should be able to drive some distance with the help of lighting on the street and then during the day headlights are not required. Of course I would be missing the horn which is essential to be on Indian roads. It’s like without the horn noise I don’t have any voice on the road. Honking is akin to saying hello to fellow travelers and also keeping them awake and sharp . Not being able to use horn was a minor niggle when compared to riding in the dark. Suddenly I started rethinking if this entire trip was a bad idea. My wife badly wanted me to stay around , though she never said it . The time was around 4:30 am now. Luckily, the self-starter button was working(my motorcycle does not have a kick start option !!), so I could still start my motorcycle. I kept on driving with the lights on the road and realized that the street lights became less and less in number and the area was covered with trees on both sides of the road causing more and more shadows and darkness on the road. I did not feel that this was safe for me as well as any vehicles approaching from behind. It felt like a hazardous and dangerous thing to do.
In Chennai the sun rises quite early and we are always basking in the glory of sunlight throughout the year, so I thought let me use this in my favor and wait for the first ray of light. It’s quite rare when I would look for sunlight in Chennai, but perspective changes with the situation. I drove back to one tea shop where there was light and decided to wait it out while sipping a hot cup of tea. Meanwhile I called my wife and informed this ‘good’ news. She lost whatever sleep she had. I also thought to check if some motorcycle mechanic staying nearby can help. I was in luck and there was a motorcycle repair shop right next to the tea shop. Of course I was not expecting it to be open. My hopes went a bit high and I called the number mentioned beneath, just to find out that there was no answer. I also asked the tea shop guy if he knew any mechanic. He started inquiring about what happened to the motorcycle and then he quickly said the fuse might have blown off. Immediately two things came to my mind, first is I am so ignorant about motorcycles and I had been driving for around 24 years now and secondly I figured that maybe the newly installed fog lamps were the culprit. I got these fog lights installed just a day before for this trip as the previous one had stopped working. I had a steaming hot cup of tea and after that I opened the right side panel(which houses the battery and the fuse) to check if magically I would see some lose wires and I could make it all work. A third realization came that I did not carry any repair kit or never even thought about that, though one of a recent biker had told me that I should keep a tool box handy and also learn some basic motorcycle repair.
Failure is the best teacher. My magic did not work and I could not find anything loose to fix. I also searched Google, after all it has answers for everything right ? I did not have patience and tools to do any of those mentioned in google. I closed the side panel and then realized that something on my face was missing and found that it was my glasses. White taking off helmet and gloves I don’t know where I kept my glasses. Another disadvantage of wearing glasses in a full face helmet is that taking off the helmet is a multiple step approach. I searched for the glasses and I could not find them anywhere on my motorcycle or my luggage or on my dress. I started panicking and thought this was the final sign to not make this motorcycle trip. Of course riding without glasses is dangerous and again my wife had reminded me to keep a second pair of glasses in the luggage and I did not do it. Wife is always right, remember? I found the glasses in the ground covered in sand. I saw that the left side glass had come out of the frame. I put the glass back in the frame and checked if I could see clearly. There was a scratch but it did not impair my vision. I am guessing that in my nervousness it fell down and I had stepped on it.
After sometime it was day break and the light situation started improving.I think it was around 5 am and I started riding slowly keeping left. Also my riding jacket had reflectors, which would help vehicles from behind to see me. The light improved rapidly after that and I did not need the lights anymore to drive. I was missing the horn though. I was hoping that I could find some repair shop and get it fixed on the way and started driving. While riding one good biker honked and pointed something behind my bike. I stopped to see what the matter was and found that the right hand screw had come off the rear number plate and it was hanging with the help of one screw now. I just prayed that it would not fall down and again the repair shop may help and then continued riding.
Angel in two wheeler shop
Around 8:50 am while I noticed one guy opening his two wheeler repair shop. I stopped there and asked for his help. I confidently told him that the fuse has gone off and he said he does not have any fuse and I need to take it somewhere else. I did not even give him a chance to look. I somehow implored him to check if something can be done temporarily at least. He checked all the fuses and all were fine. He said that there was something wrong with the wiring and he fixed it. It hardly took him 10 minutes. That’s the time when I noticed that the lock from the battery panel(remember when I checked that earlier in the morning for any loose wires), had disappeared. I was clueless on what could have happened, if the right hand side cover had fallen off. Mechanic fixed the lights and horn issue and also he put a nut to hold the number plate. He tied the battery panel with a rubber band so that the entire panel does not fall off. I paid him 100 bucks for this as I was his first customer and he had put my mind at peace. With a relieved feeling I started going on with my remaining journey.
The ride is relaxed now time to enjoy and inhale
Mostly the roads were empty.Many of the restaurants on the highway that used to be thronging with people were closed permanently. The lock down and the travel restrictions had taken a toll on these shops who relied on only travelers for their livelihood.The view on both sides of the road was filled with beautiful vistas, different shades of green and a myriad of colors. There were farms,flowers,rivers,mountains,birds,goats and cattle and that is the time when I started enjoying the drive.The fresh smell of all this greenery was like a shot of energy to body and soul and an instant energizer especially in the morning. Cruising on this road with the fast changing scenery again gave me hope that there is still life outside work from home and doing everything from home. This is exactly how freedom felt and smelled for me. Stopped in between for breakfast. The morning cool breeze slowly gave way to the noon hot sun. I also crossed places that were harvesting fresh fruits and vegetables and they smelled and looked so nice. It’s strange that I am so used to seeing fruits and vegetable in packets or boxes, neatly arranged as if they are made that way in a factory. I totally forgot the fact that all these fruits and vegetables grow with leaves, stems etc on a plant or a tree. And now seeing these with leaves and stems,felt different and wholesome. Sometimes in life we also see things in isolation and only focus on that and tend to forget about the big picture and other things surrounding that. My riding gear protected me from the heat this time. There were long empty stretches of roads that were devoid of any traffic. I opened the motorcycle full throttle and the speedometer was constantly touching and crossing 100 kmph. I felt a need for more power but I still don’t feel very safe on Indian roads. It just takes one stray cattle to lead you flying on the road and I have experienced that already.
After some time I realized that my vehicle started stalling and it worked fine when I turned the fuel knob into reserve mode. Usually this happens only when the fuel in the mains is over. This is also an indication to refuel. With my calculation, the amount of petrol that I put in should easily last me till the destination and should not reach the reserve capacity at this point. I thought that there must be some problem with the fuel knob or fuel itself. Maybe with the series of unfortunate events so far, I assumed this as well. After sometime the fuel light on the meter started blinking very fast and that is the time I realized that there was no problem with the fuel knob but the top speed led to a rapid consumption of petrol leading to dramatic drop in motorcycle’s mileage. Riding motorcycles at their peak speed is not efficient.By the time I realized this, I was already on the ghat section of the road that was filled with hair pin curves and there were no petrol pumps to be seen. Again I was scared that if the petrol gets over, I may have to leave my motorcycle here because to push the motorcycle on a mountain I need to be superman and I am just an ordinary mortal. Anyway, I kept these fears aside and kept riding to see if my luck could overcome my stupidity and if I could reach the destination with whatever petrol that was left in the tank. I am happy to declare that luck won at last. In hindsight, if the fuel gauge on the speedometer had given a more accurate reading or would have shown something like distance to empty, I would not have just driven plainly on luck. With these speed limitations and all these minor breakdowns I already started making a mental checklist for my next motorcycle . Sorry, the heart wants what it wants.
You can see it but you cannot touch !!
After driving for almost 12 hours and around 500 km, I reached near the destination and there was a police check post in Kerala and Tamilnadu border at Kumily. The Policeman asked me the reason for travel and I told about my hotel booking. I was told that there is a triple lock down(owing to a high number of Covid-19 cases) in the district and tourists were not allowed inside. I conveyed that I had all the documents like the RTPCR test, EPass(An entry in the destination state’s website stating the details of traveler and the reason for travel with all relevant documents uploaded ), hotel booking etc. and the fact that I am riding from Chennai . He spoke to his superior and allowed me to cross. He told me that I was permitted to stay in the hotel but I would be required to follow the lock down restrictions. He also started inquiring about my motorcycle, accessories, bags etc. This is the time I noticed that the rear number plate was missing from my motorcycle(remember the right side screw of the number plate falling down earlier and subsequent repair?). I was happy to know that I did not come this far to be turned around . I reached the hotel and was relieved to see the resort with a nice reception desk and was led into a beautifully decorated room. I can’t tell you how happy I was to reach the hotel. It was like reaching the oasis in a desert.
So was it worth it?
I would say it was totally worth it. I feel a sense of accomplishment after doing this. The pictures beneath would speak for themselves. Knowing myself I would have given up easily after seeing some hiccups but this time I wanted to see it to completion. I am working on finishing what I start, so maybe this was a step in that direction. This experience also gave me confidence that I can make such trips and what kind of preparation I should make next time. Surely many of these things were outside my comfort zone as staying inside the house and working from home had made the comfort zone even more smaller literally to four walls of the house. This trip also gave me some confidence in exploring a little bit outside of my comfort zone . Preparation surely helps and there is only so much I could prepare and learning never stops. For me a journey is more important than the destination because the journey is longer and without the journey I will not reach the destination. Destination is just a point before I undertake the next journey.
Have you also been keeping aside something like this for long and coming up with excuses not to do it? I would say start small and once in a while go ahead and do it even on a smaller scale. The feeling of accomplishment you will get by doing that is something you need to experience yourself. Time is running out..remember ?