Nandi night

Firday night at office thinkin no ride this weekend too. Get a call from sanjay followed by keerthi for a mid-night ride to nandi hills. OK why not. But the by time i drop my team-mate home its 11.30. thought too late and home it is but. but called up keerthi ne way to know that he,sanjay,vicky and santhosh have left early and are some 20 kms from nandi hills. called up praveenS to see if he wanted to join, but he too is already out of town alone heading to nandi. well be it solo one way i decided to go tooo. ripped across the empty city to the other end of blore towards hebal. and once out of hebal and my headlamp was no good. reducing my speeds drastically. all the while feeling anxieus goin out in night alone. lot of wat if's goin in ma mind. but knew gyes would be there at the end of it so carried on. 4 lane road still in constuction had to shift roads every now and then. pretty bad at places had to go over many a patchs of slush. chased cars in good strechs doin 90-100. but pretty cautious of stray things on the road. Passed devanalli empty of living beings. continuesly on watch for the left turn for nandi. thought if i don get the turn past 5 kms from devanalli i do turn back.

but found it alright. now this is totally deserted at night. me riding alone at 50-60 dats wat my head lamp allows me to. 22 kms to nandi and carry on. some times switching of the head lights for 3-4 seconds to get the kicks. yeah pretty foolish. watch out for the the truns i need to make else would get lost may be. part of the road was half wet due to showers some hours back. I stop my bike at one place and switch off the head lights and kill the enjine to grasp the environment. with no light any where and and all non human sounds around. did get scared cos was my first night out alone. again carried on and took the final turn to nandi hills. now this is some 6 KMs of ghats. small one but good twisties. being night took it pretty slow. as in climb up i see mist!!!. and was getting colder. it got thicker higher i went. lifted my visor. but din help much. was so dense dat i could see only 10 feet ahead of me. i used to forget that my visor is up and try again and again to lift it up. hehe. was an amazing experiance. as the mist got thicker also had water droplets falling off. the 6 KMs felt like it was goin on and on. was feeling disorianted cos was not knowing which way i was goin. filled with anxiety and exitement together. living it up. guess would never have made up my mind to do it alone if gyes were not there at the end. was just following the walls and jsut 4-5 feet before i knew there was a hair pin bend. at one turn i see 4 lights paralelly placed. tought wat these gyes stood in a line with the lights on, err.. but it was sumo with 4 lights :D. finally negotiating all the turns reach the top to see the gyes waiting for me. i made it. Wat took u so long? was the question. yeah am pretty slow when alone.

it was 1.00 am and called up home saying dat got some client meeting at office and will be late. :D. now hungry cos i forgot to have dinner and keerthi provided me with kishmish. hehe. learnt sanjay had taken a fall due to gravel but was spared of any damage both him and his bike. this is kinda praveenS's back yard and he keeps coming here every now and then at all times. strolled around and took some pix with vicky's phone cam of the different effects with the lights and mists around. there was a light drissle always. it wasnt the rain but the mist forming water droplets. too bad most of the area is closed at night. mission accomplished and now time to head back. startup the enjines and down we go in a line. this time pretty easy with so many lights around. reach the foot of the hills regroup and rip to the main road. santhosh takes of leading and rips bad and 100+ and where i did max 60 while coming. me ripping after gyes cos now got the path lit by the bikes ahead. was thinking wats the big deal i felt while coming it seems so easy now. its totally different when alone and in group. get to the main road and then wat more ripping. gyes providing me tail lamp generously and i take it and have a ball of a time. were stopped by cops at devanalli. and the cop said "100 rs fine for riding at night, this will teach u gyes a lesson" phew!! now was it a sin riding at night. then reduced the fine to 50 bux each. sayjay said lets pay up and get out of there. but santhos, vicky and keerthi went to reason with the officer. din make no good. ended up getting shouted at. the cop says, "no other go u have to pay and we r not harrasing u too much also". well we actually paid not as fine but letting us go withing cousing us trouble. lost half and hour there. well the cop ordered to ride below 50. yeah right, we were 80 even before we got out of their sight. one more rip and fuel session before we reach bangalore. empty city roads pretty inviting and we gyes make full use of it. and home it is by 3.15. and to the bed pretty satisfied.

may be it was a very small ride alone just 70 kms but was a completely different exp at night. one does think a lot while goin solo. may be i am not used to it but there isnt the cusion like in group rides. may be this will help me make up ma mind to do some long distance solo rides.