On Pilgrimage
A diary of most of my bike rides, in approximate sequence.
Sub Title: On Pilgrimage
Approx distance: 75km
Companions: Classmate Ramkumar
Target destination: A hill temple (Marudamalai) and Vinayakar temple.
Highlights: My first taste of the hills
Pictures taken: No
Route: Home- Marudamalai- Vinayakar temple- home
The bigger picture:
The thought of riding on a hill appealed to me more than riding on a highway. I always liked the smooth roads and the bankings. The ride to the foothills was eventless and I bought a ticket for taking my bike uphill. For the first time I was ascending an acclivity, neglecting flyovers, subways and underground parking lots. I found that my bike doesn't feel powerful enough for a hill climb. I was getting frustrated that I had to use the first and second gears a lot. I had a very major concern in using more than 5000rpm, as I had just strayed out of run-in period. A TVS 50 overtook me on the outside, ridden on full throttle, of course. I didn't try to race with it and carried on looking at the scenery to calm myself. The climb hardly lasted 10min, as I neared a hairpin bend. This is the first of many more hill rides.
A quick darshan of Lord Muruga and a couple of minutes of scenery gazing led me back to my parked bike-gleaming in the morning sun. My friend suggested that I take the bike downhill without wasting a drop of petrol by letting gravity take care of acceleration. I did just that. Since there wont be much control on the bike with the throttle I carried far greater corner speeds and in the process taught myself the basics of cornering and braking. Remember, we were two up , heavy bike and heading downhill, this only made braking and cornering tougher- and myself a novice at that.
After bidding goodbye to my friend, I headed to a Vinayaker temple on the Coimbatore -Pollachi highway. After another quick darshan of Lord Vinayakar, I found myself heading towards home. I m not a very religious person in heading to temples, but do have the urge to invoke divine blessings. I was showered with blessings as I had a very good experience in all my bike rides, and whenever I pass a temple on the route, I just did a small prayer.
Just to remove too much importance from some of my short rides, I will list them in brief and skip over their bigger picture.
- A ride to Half-way point in Coimbatore Pollachi Highway and Nandi temple on Palakad Highway
- A 100km ride along Coimbatore Trichy Road
- Some more as well, but my memory capacity has overflown.
Sub Title: On Pilgrimage
Approx distance: 75km
Companions: Classmate Ramkumar
Target destination: A hill temple (Marudamalai) and Vinayakar temple.
Highlights: My first taste of the hills
Pictures taken: No
Route: Home- Marudamalai- Vinayakar temple- home
The bigger picture:
The thought of riding on a hill appealed to me more than riding on a highway. I always liked the smooth roads and the bankings. The ride to the foothills was eventless and I bought a ticket for taking my bike uphill. For the first time I was ascending an acclivity, neglecting flyovers, subways and underground parking lots. I found that my bike doesn't feel powerful enough for a hill climb. I was getting frustrated that I had to use the first and second gears a lot. I had a very major concern in using more than 5000rpm, as I had just strayed out of run-in period. A TVS 50 overtook me on the outside, ridden on full throttle, of course. I didn't try to race with it and carried on looking at the scenery to calm myself. The climb hardly lasted 10min, as I neared a hairpin bend. This is the first of many more hill rides.
A quick darshan of Lord Muruga and a couple of minutes of scenery gazing led me back to my parked bike-gleaming in the morning sun. My friend suggested that I take the bike downhill without wasting a drop of petrol by letting gravity take care of acceleration. I did just that. Since there wont be much control on the bike with the throttle I carried far greater corner speeds and in the process taught myself the basics of cornering and braking. Remember, we were two up , heavy bike and heading downhill, this only made braking and cornering tougher- and myself a novice at that.
After bidding goodbye to my friend, I headed to a Vinayaker temple on the Coimbatore -Pollachi highway. After another quick darshan of Lord Vinayakar, I found myself heading towards home. I m not a very religious person in heading to temples, but do have the urge to invoke divine blessings. I was showered with blessings as I had a very good experience in all my bike rides, and whenever I pass a temple on the route, I just did a small prayer.
Just to remove too much importance from some of my short rides, I will list them in brief and skip over their bigger picture.
- A ride to Half-way point in Coimbatore Pollachi Highway and Nandi temple on Palakad Highway
- A 100km ride along Coimbatore Trichy Road
- Some more as well, but my memory capacity has overflown.
posted by Prathap at
4:25 PM
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