The first 1000+ km ride

Taking a flight to Bangalore from Hyderabad is a scam. One ends up spending more time traveling to the city from the Airport than the time spent flying to the city.  Taking a train is a pain. The time to Kachiguda station or time from Majestic to the city (in it’s glorious traffic) just doesn’t make the trip worth it.  The only option left is to take the roads and I don’t have much to complain about.

It’s easily one of the best highways to drive on except those annoying tolls the crop up every 75Km of the entire 570km. However, if you decide to ride down, then even the tolls don’t matter. If the ride is a Versys 650, then there’s pretty much ‘nothing’ to complain.

You know what’s even better? When you decide to ride early morning on a weekday with hardly any traffic on the road. Pleasure, of course, knowing that most of my colleagues are stuck in the city trying to commute to office while I’ll be ambling on a highway to another state.

There have been rides I’ve done in other motorcycles where I’ve regretted the decision just about 100km into the trip or had the urge to find a nice spot under a tree and sleep instead of riding. This one was a bit different and it had it’s phases:

Hyderabad to 200km: getting to know –  The phase where I really understood what it means to ride this tall motorcycle.  Listening more carefully to the engine and finally managing to shift gears without that clunky noise. Aaah! Trying to get comfortable with my seating and holding of the handlebar. It was only after I passed Karnool, when I felt that I was finally in control of the motorcycle and not at it’s mercy!

200 to 400km: settling down – The phase when I got over the constant concern of potential ‘buyers remorse.’ The slow realization of what I had invested in and getting to experience it in the fullest. Knowing that there are going to be more such moments of absolute bliss in the coming years when I’m riding by myself feeling happy and blessed for having come this far in life.

400km to Bangalore: the rains – Just when things were getting a little monotonous and way too comfortable, the rains came to the rescue. Meant that it would be a test of a different kind. After a chai break and tired of waiting for for the rains to stop, I knew it was time to start riding again if I had to reach before sunset. What followed was an hour of 100km/h ride in monsoon rains with an ever increasing confidence on the brakes!

The ride back home had two modes:

Cruise mode: For most part of the ride, it was experiencing the Versys at it’s best – 6th gear, 4,000 to 5000 RPM, speeds between 80 to 110km/hour and absolutely no grunt or vibe. That’s when the motorcycle almost disappears into the background and it’s just you on the road experiencing the visual delight around you.

Highways usually give me the much needed hope that this world will continue to be a beautiful place for humans to live. Our cramped cities just make me feel the opposite.  The real reason why hitting a good highway is such a critical part of my for life itself and I end up doing it as often as I can.

Race mode:  The fastest speeds I’ve been on wheels have invariably come in the Hyderabad-Bangalore roads mostly because there are sections after Anantapur where there are hardly any animals or humans on the roads doing the random things they keep doing elsewhere. It’s the first place I hit 200km/h on a car and the quickest I could do on the Versys 650 was 189km/h before the fear kicked in.  The double century can wait for a bit – even Sachin took quiet a while before he got his.

On it’s part, the Versys 650 felt extremely stable at all the speeds and didn’t flinch a bit even when I had to hard brake to slow down at speeds above 150km/h. The long winding corners were a joy to ride but then these are not the usual twisties. That too can wait until my next ride…