The "Breakfast ride"

Nov 10, 2006: Ride to Gingee tomorrow. Yay!

Nov 11, 2006: Ride to Gingee postponed to tomorrow. Still Yay!

(Two hours later...)
Crap! Bike insurance lapsed yesterday. Wasn't Papa Hyde supposed to send me the renewed policy?

Papa Hyde: I got the renewed policy an hour ago. You will get it on Monday.

I: There goes my ride. Darn!

Nov 12, 2006: Gingee ride gone. Next ride on 18th, to the Ghats. Yay!

Nov 16, 2006: Ride to the Ghats on 25th and not 18th! I am going to Madras that weekend. Another ride missed. Double darn! Life sucks!!

Nov 18, 2006: An SMS from a fellow rider, Dom.

"Operation Trichur abandoned due to rain. Planning to go to Kamat's tomorrow for breakfast. Want to join? It's around 40 kms away"

You bet I do!

Nov 19, 2006: At 7.30am, I met Dom and his friends Ben, Kart and Anand outside Town Hall. The plan was to ride to Kamat’s (at Channapatna) on Mysore Road and return after breakfast.

People in the restaurant stared at us as our bikes rolled in. Being used to such attention, we made our way to one corner and had breakfast.

As we finished, an elderly lady, who was sitting a table away came over and asked me whether we were 'practising for a race'.

Eh?

As we explained that we 'just rode to have breakfast', she was joined by two other elder women. They were fascinated at the 'speed' with which we rode.

We were only riding in the 80s. Perhaps they need to see the kind of speeds we do otherwise...

Breakfast was over, but the hunger to ride wasn't satisfied.

‘How about Maddur?’ one asked. Nobody vetoed.

At Maddur, another asked 'How about Srirangapatna?’ Nobody vetoed again.

At Srirangapatna, yet another asked 'How about Ooty?’ The rest vetoed this time. And so we returned.

I was leading the pack for some time when two Scorpios overtook me in quick succession. And without realising, I gave chase.

Till my bike topped at 116kmph and refused to accelerate any further.

Oh well.

I rolled into the Coffee Day outlet on Mysore Road and waited for the rest to arrive. Which they did twenty minutes later.

We relaxed for a long time and by the time we started, it began to rain. So we pulled over for sometime.

Around half an hour later, we started again. Heavier rain forced us to stop for a longer time when we were only 40 kms from Bangalore.

We made good use of the time swapping ride stories and other banalities.

It was dry in Bangalore when we reached in the evening. Nobody wanted to have lunch.

The breakfast ride was fun, only it turned into something more than a breakfast ride.