The ride to Neemrana..
and losing Goddess to a girl

Well you know she is a rockstar, she is pretty. curvy and strong.. and sexy as hell!

My Royal Enfield Electra that is, as you already know. fondly called Goddess. She climbs mountains like a goat, gallops when the temperature dips to near zero, and munches on highways as if it’s chocolate. She has been getting my uninterrupted attention for the three years of her life.. And then she met a pretty girl .. and decided to, ahem “unfriend’ me.. these chicks I tell you

Let me introduce the second heroine of this story. Aparna .. (@aparnaandhare). She  is a rockstar in her own right. She rides a Royal Enfield in Mumbai, is probably as comfortable behind the camera as she is in front of it, and yea jumps into most things that scare the bejeeses out of most people. Especially those Giant wheel, Columbus kinda things.

This is her show at the Mahindra Great Escape..

So while @aparnaandhare was in the mountains for a wedding, we decided to take the bullet out for a short ride out of Delhi.. Neemrana was decided for the ease of reach and the fact that we could go and come back in a day

The night before saw fog thick enough to prevent one from walking, let alone riding. So the next days early morning start was looking bleak, but we planned for it anyway. As we could not get another bike for aparna, we decided to share Goddess.  And at 7 am in the morning, delhi was under a white carpet of fog as I set out to pick the lady up frm her JNU residence. She was waiting, alpinestars donned, camera and tripod in hand. And we start…

Two more riders joined us from Mahipalpur and three bullets set out for a journey that was not going to end this smoothly..

Aparna took the reins from mahipalpur till the first break. About 60km through crazy truck traffic on the Jaipur expressway. Me sitting pillion, (not the best place to be for a touring biker) half anxious, half impressed with the pretty lady’s exceptional riding skills. I heard her Mumbai sense of traffic screaming WTF? as cars overtook us from the left, trucks swerved and switched lanes at high speed, and cows crossed us with no concern whatsoever. By now, I was getting used to sitting behind a lady rider.. enjoying the attention she was getting from passing cars who realized that the bullet that just zoomed ahead was in the hands of a girl, complete with mehndi on her hands..

The sun came out shining, and it was one easy ride till Neemrana. With no fog, it could have been done in about 2.1/2 hrs or so.. We reached the fort. I had to beg and plead for a chance to ride as Goddess got comfy with her new rider and vice versa. reaching fort Neemrana was a disappointment. The fort was nondescript to say the most. So the three bullets decide  to go to the bauli nearby.. and click some pictures. The terrain was getting challenging now, and a bad patch of slush with water filled in it. I step out to watch as Aparna gracefully steered Goddess through.. gracefully..

I walk across and land up at the bouli. With bystanders going into mild shock as the rider of the bullet took of her helmet and did that thing girls do with their hair..And I smile.

So Aparna ,Vikas(The vintage bullet guy with a penchant for really really sexy old machines), Rohit(Retired something, but diver, rider, photographer..), Vinod(Another Shutter maniac) and I spend time at the bouli trying group pics like this..

Then we set back .. and Vikas takes us to this restoration place – AMI Impex at Shahjanpur where legends of yester years wait to be brought back to life.. BSAs Harleys and Hondas with rich history behind.. We leave after an hour of drooling over aged rusted metal,

After filling up our two wheel crazy brains with rusted metal shots..and some tea later. aparna refuses to giv me the bike to ride and we head out to dharuhera crossing beyond which we stop for a late lunch at Prem da dhaba.

I grab the keys back .. now it is my turn to ride… And begins the most interesting part of the trip!

And we reach Mansear, slow down to let traffic pass near IMT and Goddess screeches to a halt. dead still.. I kicked her back to life and she did, only the wheel refused to budge!

Real wheel stuck, and refusing to move and inch! With the help of the passerby, we push the bike to the shoulder and park ourselves by the railing. Time to think! Our co-riders have sped away and were supposed to be meeting us at a point ahead. The sun was looking tired, and about to set..

As I pulled out my spanner, I called Vishwas (@vishwasma ) as usual.. the first call when my bullet hitches goes to him. And we discuss what could be wrong. He suggests I take out the rear wheel and unjam the brake after consulting with gurunandan.. and I sit down to remove the wheel..

and then I see the hell that happened at the hub!

The chain stay bolt had broken. The hub had thn spun anticlockwise by about 30 degrees and the chainstay bolt’s cut face was glowing bright in the dim light.. The brake lever was up an inch from where it shud have been, with the brake link sitting right in front of the rear axle. There was no point in opening her up now.. it was beyond what I could have fixed. While I think of solutions, Aparna calls up Royal Enfield Service to know if anyone can help.. my battery was down by now and phone dead.. Wah! Murphy in full form..!

Of course, It is NCR and nobody is doing on road service.. do they? I dunno!. So option number z to be exercised. Flag down a tempo.
(now trust me on this one. I am a master of tempoing/trucking/train loading bullets by now , Vishwas is too ) So loaded Goddess, and Aparna decides to join her on the back!and  pulls out her ipod .. By now Vikas has called and arranged for a workshop at 32nd milestone, which we reach almost after an hour.. 20km!

So at 32nd milestone, while we fix goddess Vikas takes us to this coolest bike place where Rd350s are being restores in hordes. @aparnaandhare test rides one and loves it.. and we sit and chat endlesslesly about bikes, cars and mountains. By Now Goddess is back to life, I try her out, and we set out.. making plans to halt at a relatives place for a drink and dinner.. but plans are well, just plans

Plans go down the drain again.. as less than 20km down the road, at the Gurgaon toll plaza, as I move into the bike lane.. Goddess stalls again.

Exact same exact same problem! This time, the hub was in better shape, probably because it had stalled at a slower speed. With mad traffic trying to almost run into the toll plaza. Again, with the help of a passerby, I push Goddess off to the shoulder. By now I was losing patience.. and rider or no rider, a girl traveling with you deserves a better end to a day than hauling bikes around in tempos.. So backslaping biker buddiness was thrown out of the window, an empty meru cab was flagged down and @aparnaandhare sent to her jiju’s place without her consent.. (sorry again, little old fashioned.. only little) while I, phone less waited by the road for the next tempo.

One comes along in half an hour and refuses to go, then comes a other and another.. and i decide to probably sleep by the bike if needed.. ad the last ray of hope pops up in about another 15 minutes.. they agree to carry me and the bullet and I take her straight home.. where she is still parked, waiting for me to be free enough to take care of her.. Goddess deserves a little punishment for treating a girl badly, and yeah.. @aparnaandhare’s theory that Goddess likes her better and didn’t want to ride with me anymore stands ..
(girls always win don’t they biker or not)

But yea, what would have that ride been without all this? what is a trip without a snag? and who knows best but a bulleteer.. and no matter how pretty or manicured, a girl who calls herself a bulleteer is sure to know this too, first hand this time.. So cheers @aparnaandhare.. looking forward to seeing your liz (A royal enfield electra 5s) and riding alongside with Goddess, some day .. The bullets might like each other’s company..

but I still think @aparnaandhare’s bullet is a guy ..