As all have said, the star of the day was undoubtedly Scooby. From his generosity in bring along a second car just so that more BHPian's could come along for the trip, to his awesome machine and driving style - fast, but no risks.
I was on the tail of the scooby for the climb upto Amby Valley. Was a pleasure to see that car corner! Flat, stable and simply goes where its pointed. Was also funny to see Jitu (or was that shivz??) rolling around in the back seat trying to get it on camera!
For once, the meet ran precisely to schedule. The day began with me giving Viper a lift to Scooby's house, where he was waiting with his 2 steeds - a gleaming ML and aggressive WRX STi.
Everyone gathers at Sion on time, and by 7.30 we set off for Palm Beach. We take a few pictures there, and figure out that there was no-body joining us at Palm Beach!! lol.
From here, the 3 bikers - fireblader85 on his blade, Gerard (apparently a member here!) on his F650 (aka the Giraffe) and me on the trusty Zed (the smallest engined of the lot : ( ) push off towards the old highway, while the cars head to the expressway (I'll let someone else tell you guys about their side of it).
The old highway was wonderful. Smooth, tarmac with minimal traffic. The old highway has also become a toll road, so now its really well kept and a pure joy to ride on. Far better than the crowded and bumpy expressway now.
This was kartik's first proper ride on his newly acquired fireblade, so we all settled on a nice, comfortable cruise speed of about 100kmph. early morning, cool breeze, empty roads and the hum of the inline four is just the perfect way to start any day! Everything seems perfect with the world suddenly! Till we crest a flyover and suddenly see that someone decided to dig up the road up ahead! Lol. Anyways, no drama, as we were in cruise mode.
As we head up the ghats, the old road merges with the Expresway at that point. As soon as we merge, the first cars we see are the Maroon ML with a crazed Delhi ka puttar hanging out of the window with a cam, and Jitu's LOUD honda.
We enter a tunnel, and I slow down hoping to hear Kartik fly by on his terrific sounding blade. I hear an awesome sound. The perfect beat of a well tuned Honda 4 cylinder. I look back and see Jitu's Honda fly by, not the blade! lol. That sound really has to be heard ot be believed!
After a lengthy breakfast, we are joined by Monkey and his better half (Finally). As is the rule of the trip, last person to arrive pays. Monkey was more than willing to oblige, but we all got soft at the end and split the tab. However, next time we may not be so kind!
Now the real stuff begins. The twisties upto Amby Valley. Gerard was kind enough to stick with kartik and make sure he was ok, leaving me to play with the scooby on the way up. As mentioned earlier, it was a great experience watching the STi doing what it was built to do! It simply flew away from me on the 1st gear hairpins that the road begins with, but when the road began to flow, I chose to stay right behind to marvel at its handling. Afterall, its not everyday that you get to see one of these driven in anger in India.
We reach the top and all four doors of the scooby open to 3 very happy individuals! lol. I wish I had my camera ready for that shot! The looks on our faces really show why we all love these fangled wheeled things!!
After the rest of the group showed up, we had the obligatory photo shoot and associated car talk before heading back down the hill, and taking over the AC section in a restaurant for some great food and company!
I believe Jitu then headed off to Pune with the Pune guys. Us bikers headed back, getting blasted with HOT air on the ride back. Kartik got his taste of riding a proper bike on proper roads, and he did great for a first timer. Kept his head, didn't get carried away and rode to his limits.
Next time, we need to make it a bit earlier to avoid the heat, but this sure was a drive to remember!
Few pics from my cam coming up.
Last edited by Rtech : 12th March 2007 at 13:31.
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