Holeshot

Cut the Bull SHIT and let's get shot out of that Cannon this weekend. Let's go RACE!!!

Another day, another ride...

Life, it's ever so strange
It's so full of change
Think that you've worked it out
Then BANG
Right out of the blue
Something happens to you
To throw you off course

It'll take you round and round
Sometimes you're up
Sometimes you're down

It's just a ride, it's just a ride
No need to run, no need to hide

Don't be scared
Don't hide your eyes
It may feel so real inside
But don't forget it's just a ride

Slowly, oh so very slowly

Accept that

There's no getting off

So live it, just gotta go with it

Coz this ride's, never gonna stop

Riding in India: Reason #54

There's always someone to help you out

You may run out of pedal power but you've always got pulling power

Riding in India: Reason #37

Location: Amber Fort Rajasthan
Concoction: 3 Royal Enfield motorcycles, 3 pachyderms and a swamp
Result: The ride of a lifetime and a pic to show for it

This couldn't be anywhere else in the world but India...


pic:Davida.co.uk via Sideburn

Road Food

If we've been a little silent here on the blog, it's only because...

We've been enjoying road food...



Experiencing India...



And Riding into the Sunset.

Target Fixation

More at www.indimotard.com

The bike goes where you look aka "target fixation"

Although this was written for the track, this applies to riding in general.
All of us know this and this is all the more true on a track at high speeds. The bike will go where you look. As you enter a corner (even on the street) we have all faced a moment of realization where we know we are going to hit the cycle/tree/ditch. How does one know? ESP? predictions?

The answer is target fixation.

What do you do now that you know this?

The obvious : Set your eyes on where you really want to go. Its difficult but doable. This will only come with practice

Cornering:

All of us learnt to respect corners one way or another. On the track this is more important than ever given the speeds that you are going through in a corner.

Typically any rider attacks the corner using the "point and shoot" method. This is where you go into the corner, brake, point the bike, accelerate, brake, point and accelerate until you are out of the corner. Obviously not the right way to do this. There are folks who also shift while in a corner. Common mistakes and sometime deadly ones.

Smooth cornering :
Lets define three parts to the corner. The entrance, the Apex and the Exit.
The entrance is the point at which you start leaning into the corner, the apex is the highest point on the inside on the corner and the exit is where you are almost in a full upright position.

Lets start with a left hander.
Getting into the entrance depends on a few things. Firstly the speed you are carrying, the kind of corner it is (more about this later), your optimal braking point (or brake marker as it is called) for you to carry through that corner.
On a left hander as you are coming in, stay to the outside right and find your brake-marker, make the "shift-blip-brake" routine so that you are in the right gear at the right rpm. This is the point of starting your lean. Move your body out to aid the lean. As you find yourself hurtled into the entrance, start by looking into the turn (the most important thing in your life, you will notice this on any racing photo, where the racers head is turned further into the turn than the rest of the body). and start the counter steer. [Countersteer: The bike leans to the same side as you push on the handlebars. So a push on the left handlebar will tuck the bike into a left hander]. The further ahead you are able to look into the turn the more confidence you have.

Now you have entered the turn, you are in the right gear/rpm and you have assessed the turn and you are leaning into the turn, looking into the turn. No sudden moves now!!. At this point you have traveled from the right side of the track to the inside of the track taking the shortest route
Keep the throttle smooth through the entrance into the apex.

As you approach the apex, you are at full lean (knee dragging the ground, your ) and at the apex you are able to see parts of the exit. At this point (exiting the apex) the throttle is finely controlled to start a slow but steady acceleration.

And you are on your way out the exit of the corner. At this point you want to use the whole track to get the most benefit and as you accelerate you will find yourself drifting to the outside right of the track. As the rpm's pick up, shift up (depending on the turn). Again remember the bike goes where you look.

All the above contributes to "finding your line". As you go through the same corner over and over the line becomes clear, the brake markers are known, the speeds improve.

All of the above is commonly referred to as the "slow-in, fast-out" method.

The things to watch for while cornering
1. Look into the turn
2. Countersteer
3. Be smooth. (no abrupt moves/shifting/acceleration/braking). The speed will come later
4. Find your line and stick to it.

There are various corners like double apex corners, decreasing radius corners, off-camber corners etc. We will deal with them in due course.

Again this is my humble attempt of putting together what I know. There are authorities on this who will have more to say.

More questions/comments welcome!

Stealth Riding..

Stealth Riding in India

Peripheral Vision

Riding a motorcycle in India is actually easy if one spends some time thinking about it. On the face of it, everything seems chaotic and one always wonders how people get home everyday without getting hurt or killed.  There are two parts to riding in India depending on whether you ride in the city or on the highway. In the city it’s about defensive driving. You are constantly shifting gears, accelerating, braking, accelerating, maneuvering, cursing, weaving and bobbing through traffic. Defensive riding becomes part of your riding skills and in more ways than one this becomes your riding style.  This has its positives and its negatives. The positive is that you feel safer riding in the city but once you get out on the highway or the back-roads this becomes annoying and stressful. (old habits die hard)

When you are on a long distance trip in India I use what I call “stealth riding”. To put it in simple terms it’s where you use your peripheral vision more than you usually do. It becomes mandatory that you constantly scan not just the road ahead of you but everything on either side of the road and make some calculated changes to your riding style to be prepared for anything.  The idea is to train your mind to “look out” using your peripheral vision so that it becomes a habit that flows naturally. I follow some simple rules that help me when I am on the “long road”. I have found that there a few usual suspects to watch out for in a long distance trip. First are the local cyclists, secondly dogs, stray domestic animals, third the loitering villager and fourth the “daring villager on his two wheeler”.

Let’s start with the first. Let’s assume I can see a cyclist ahead of me going in the same direction as me, I try to keep a “peripheral eye” on the front wheel of that cycle. The moment that front wheel changes direction towards my riding line I back off the throttle just a bit to be prepared (just in case).  Similarly when I notice a dog or an animal loitering on either side of the road I tend to hold throttle or in a position that I can snap it shut while also having a finger or two on the front brake lever.  The slower the animals natural running speed the more you can relax, but to keep Murphy’s law in mind is best.  The last of these is the “daring villager on his two wheeler” who in my opinion is the most dangerous. You catch sight of him standing there on the side of the road even half a km away and you think to yourself that nothing can go wrong..and out of the blue he lets his clutch out and into your path.  What is he thinking? “let me see if I can cross the road and prove that I am invincible” or “let me see if I can scare the living daylights of the guys on the highway?” or better yet  “lets see if his brakes work?”.

There are other known hazards that invariably keep popping up which are easier to deal with, the truck that pulls out only at the exact moment when you come by, the pot-holes, the speed breakers (or neck snappers), the slow auto that’s a long distance trip, the fast auto who thinks he owns the road. The good thing about these are that you can predict this for the most by paying attention to the front wheel of the vehicle, making eye contact with the driver of the vehicle when possible, the general speed or lack of speed of vehicles way ahead of you  and keeping your wits about you.

Scanning the road using your peripheral vision and preparing yourself for a road hazard is mandatory in India. It’s easy as long as you keep doing this and it becomes second nature to you.

Happy Riding!!

www.indimotard.com

Where bikers dare

 The 20^th of july.2002, 8.50 am..I was standing on the worlds highest motor able road..khardung-la at an altitude of 18380ft above sea level .with my bike a green Royal Enfield of 1969 vintage….a big board proclaimed a welcome by project Himank..and another board on my left welcomed me to the highest temple in the world khardungla-baba.Incidently I was the first member of our group to reach the pass. Myself and my bike had been in top gear coming on the 40km ride from leh..as we went around the hairpin bends …both the wheels fighting it out to keep themselves firm footed on a single plane.. As I passed fellow friends pushing their bikes up…as I fought for balance…we were having fun…. going around the corners and  having a blast. As I gunned the throttle the wheels moved about with a will of their own… digging in angrily into the gravel ,throwing up a huge cloud of dust ….. as we took each and every small shortcut through the unforgiving mountains, risking it a bit…but with confidence levels  at all-time high levels. In the next one hour we had more and more bikes coming in bringing up the number to a 70 odd bikes ..the highest ever number of motorcycles to make it on the pass…..we were 102 people in all including all our support members, also the highest number of civilians on the pass ,we were told by the army personnel…a festive atmosphere hung in the air. As the army personnel distributed free tea, people were dancing and rejoicing, cameras were on a  major clicking spree…the “Been There ,Done That” picture. for everyone there except for me it was a mission ,successfully completed….but for me the journey had just begun !!!! I was to travel all the way from there to Kanyakumari the southernmost tip of India a good  7,500 kilometers away, on the route I had planned to take .Having already done 3,800 kilometers from Bangalore to reach  on the top of the world…it was a huge figure to accomplish .

    

  The 16^th of August,  27 days later ,the 39^th day of my journey... .i count off the remaining kilometers, feeling something swelling within me as it drops to 50..twenty ten...expectancy? Satisfaction? Joy? Relief?. And then at, 5.30 pm i am there lands end. the blue band of ocean slices my vision in half. and the tarmac can go no further. From my right the vast semi-circular ripples from the Arabian sea meet the bay and fuse with the Indian ocean, I was sitting in Kanyakumari on the beach, waiting for the sun to set ..we (myself n my bike) had successfully completed our mission….riding around 12,000 kilometers ..Through 14 states…. 39 days of living on the road…through forbidden terrain….unfavorable weather conditions, like scorching heat in Delhi, freezing cold in Kashmir and pouring rain on the coast for 10 days ..we were exited on have achieved something……I celebrated with a great feeling within me to have survived the whole thing….

 

  My idea of nirvana has always been nature…waking up with the sun shining on my face…listening to the bike thumping away as the birds chirp in my ears ….eat away with the pleasant aroma of the food exiting my taste buds as they get cooked on a crackling fire beside me. The smell of the flora and fauna around me rejuvenating me .A wonderful siesta in the cool shade as the digestive juices work inside my stomach to digest the meal. forget of an instrument called the “watch” and how to use a calendar .sleep peacefully as the moon stares and the stars wink at me……..

 

         Its been an amazing journey and an awesome ride ever since I left Bangalore on the 7^th of July till I returned on the 17^th august 40 days later after riding through 14 states throughout India. Meeting fellow bikers all over the country….my journey traversed through the less frequented roads between heaven and earth crossing the  highest ever motor able road in the world ”khardungla” in ladakh  and the southern most tip of India “kanyakumari”  .A whiff of cultures, lifestyles, traditions ,hospitality and food of a wonderful country called India …in short I returned to Bangalore …after a taste of a beautiful country called India… A melting pot of cultures, colors, flavors and smells, full of spirits. all bundled into one ..Adventure at its very best….

 

   Its been a journey of a different kind…unlike taking away on a holiday cocooned in a musty bogie of a train, or the “semi-sleeper” of a bus or the air conditioned comfort of a Boeing 737.,flashing  around a couple of currency notes and deciding what i want to eat for breakfast or dinner…..and look around and decide what kind of ambience i want to have in the place I was going to stay… this was of a different state looking for adventure at its raw state, believing that adventure begins where the tarmac ends…and not minding rattling mountain paths ,tyre slashing rocks lurking under glacial melts flowing in full force, hairpin after hairpin leading into some of the worlds highest motor able passes. all generously tossed with a dash of low oxygen, fog cold and lack of everyday facilities on desolate stretched for days together…the Himalayas was just right for me. yes that has been what the ride in the Himalayas have been…and I did survive it all... bringing in the true spirit of adventure within me …   I returned home with a great sense of satisfaction and achievement. with memories to cherish for a lifetime……Prashant