FRMC Goa Ride

On a fine 2009 November morning, I left for Goa on a solo ride to attend the Rider Mania. On my bullet with a kitbag, it was a journey which opened many doors within me. Two years later similar ride opportunity popped up, and I couldn't let it go by.

Free Riders Motorcyle Club short FRMC is based out of Delhi with Shiv Raj Singh in lead. He also happens to know Melvin, hence the connection. FRMC chaps are super bike owners sharing a common group ideology. They were doing a Delhi-Goa ride in December 2011, and we two from Chandigarh hopped in.

The kick off happened on 11th December from Gurgaon, comprising of 11 bikes with tally as:

Lineup at Chiplun

Suzuki Intruder - 3

Suzuki Hayabusa - 3

HD Fatboy - 2

Yamaha V Star -2

Victory Vision - 1

With a total of 17200 cc, it was a mighty start to 4 day long ride. Having done the route I was expecting the road to be familiar, however that turned true for certain patches only. The Jaipur road is being widened, so a lot of on and off the road happened there. Jaipur - Ajmer highway is still the same, 6 lane black top road, with V- twins roaring at 140kph. I vividly remember a stance, where I and Malvinder had stopped for TRAPS break and then we heard oncoming sound of Shiv's Hayabusa and Honey's Intruder. It was deafening. Point is -  what a mayhem it would have been for a spectator witnessing 11 such bikes pass by.

First day ride was 540 odd kilometers and with lunch in belly, each rider had excitement in control. It showed in the last patch of ride. Dusk setting in and 8 bikes going in formation through the curves, with Ajay Dabas in lead. To the backup car in rear, it would have been witnessing a snake maneuvering through curves with all elements in discipline. The day finally came to a stop at Deogarh, with Deogarh Mahal awaiting dirt smitten jeans.

Day 2 of the ride saw us passing through Udaipur, Himatnagar and stopping at Gandhinagar. It witnessed clutch cable snap of Honey Singh's Intruder, and also gradual formation of small groups within the larger group (easy riders, slow riders, fast riders). Shricharan Iyengar was to get license in his name and thus assisting riders with daily quota of alcohol. What a loot in the name of liquor in Gujarat!

Enroute Udaipur from Deogarh

Day 3 was tense for me. The tread on rear tyre had given off, and twice at stances of instance breaking I could feel the rear tyre slip. The road between Gandhinagar and Vadodara is single and our early morning start helped cover the stretch easy. Thereon, it was an epic ride to Mumbai. What a sight of formation at speeds touching 130-140k's. I am certain the witnessing car passengers would have been left spellbound, not to mention the high for riders.

Day 4 was easy. The ride to Chiplun was effortless, but it was getting hot. It saw Honey Singh's Intruder giving trouble with second clutch cable snap; but soon to be replaced with Jugaad. The stay at Chiplun was high point. A beautiful resort parched atop Parshuram Ghat overlooking river Vashishti. We reached late midday and so had ample time to delve into evening rituals.

Day 5 - GOAA. Excited yet Subdued. One for each of us made it safe to the destination, and two each was sobering up for the ladies were joining in. Awww....guys were fun.

End of third day in Goa, the bikes were loaded onto truck to Delhi while we flew back. Its a different  adventure story loading the bikes onto trucks; some other time. Touch and Go as it turned out to be, with group effort we saw it through. Couple of days later, Melvin and I rode the bikes back to Chandigarh culminating the 2700 km ride.


P.S. Brief on evening rituals has been left out in the best interests of participating riders.