20th October : Mumbai-Pune

The Midnight meet in Pune with the bikers..

Thats the line up!

Outside the Castrol Bike Zone at Viman-nagar, after the press meet. The Fireblade, the Jupiter and me!

Managed to click spy pics of this new TATA Telcoline on way to the bike zone

Ashish and Sunil were helped by the Mumbai Xbhpians, as Sunny and me had to rush to Pune


20th October : Mumbai – Pune

What a day it had been yesterday! And we did know today would be no different. We had to be in Pune by 12:30pm for a press meet at the Castrol Bike Zone in Viman-nagar and so I thought we would be gone from Mumbai by 8am but that wouldn’t be the case. It was 10am by the time we got going and then it happened. First, the traffic and then the Comet’s gear shifter broke (being ridden by Ashish). Things weren’t going our way and riding the Jupiter in traffic with just the front brake was too much an effort. Finally Sunny and I decided to go ahead while Sunil would wait with Ashish to fix up the Comet. It was 11am when I hit the old Mumbai-Pune highway. I say ‘I’ as Sunny was somewhere behind in the traffic, trying hard to push the Fireblade out of the mess! We had less than 90 minutes to cover and Viman-Nagar was the other end of town, which meant a total of approximately 150 kms! I knew we would never make it, and tried talking to the PR guys to try shifting the press meet by an hour but it didn’t happen. Things didn’t stop here – the Jupiter’s front fairing starting giving away and the nuts came off before I could hit Lonavala. I had to ride for like ten minutes, holding the front fairing with one hand, before I could get hold of a mechanic who fixed the thing. Here is where Sunny passed me on the Fireblade. Pune was still around 60kms away, VIman-Nagar another 15kms and it was already 12 noon! I never pushed this baby this much or put my life on the line but this time I had to do it. Sunny took a different route, while I went in towards Katraj and went thru the outskirts and finally made it to the Castrol Bike Zone ten minutes after Sunny, at 1:30Pm, an hour late, but the press guys were just too co-operative and understanding and were patiently waiting for us! I did feel ashamed for making them wait for so long but the guys didn’t even give the slightest hint that they had been waiting and all! Sunny took the charge while I chatted for a while with couple of guys from an automobile magazine. The guys at Castrol Bike Zone owner had made sure they didn’t take much bikes today for servicing so that the whole place was to us and more so, after the press left, all the people working at the Bike Zone came out and we had a small photo-shoot with the bikes in the foreground and the Bike Zone in the background. Our bikes got a good wash and in the meantime we had a talk with the owner of the Zone and an official from Castrol. Our pick-up vehicle joined in too and the news came from Ashish and Sunil that they were on their way and would be reaching soon.
Our place of stay in Pune would be the same house where I used to stay when I was working with BIKE INDIA and CAR INDIA magazines. My other two house-mates were off to their cities for Diwali and hence we had the whole place to us. Memories of my stint in Pune came running back as I reached the house but in life one has to move on and so did I. Our bikes needed a service and so did we. We all were tired, although the ride had not been too much. We were in no mood to go out but then Rohit from RSA invited us for a mid-night ride, where 3 bike clubs were coming for a small ride and Diwali wishes. How could be resist that? We blogged for a while in the house and then left at 15 mins to midnight for Marzorin, MG road, the meeting point. There were 30 odd bikers there, including a Honda 929, and a couple of old muscle bikes. Not to attract too much attention and cops, we decided to leave for a good photo-shoot location and lemme tell you, they don’t call Pune the biking capital of India for no reason. The way we rode, in a formation, and patiently, the way a couple of guys stunting, and the way everyone behaved did certainly show that yes, Pune is THE biking city of India. No doubt about that. Bhuvan, as usual, left everyone stunned with his wheelies and after spending a good time with everyone, we called it a day as we didn’t have any more strength left in any one of us to stay there any longer. Home was still a good 20 minutes ride away and once there, we all crashed back. Yet again, I am ending todays blog with half closed eyes. Too long and tiring a day. Tomorrow we spend a lazy day here, trying to update blogs and websites. Time to say goodbye and catch up on sleep. Between, I finally buy my laptop tomorrow! Cio…