RTMC - US chapter, First official ride !
The day has finally come. Ironically, without much of a plan, if any. With a broken heart dreaming how the weekend would have been spent on 1000 miles of interstates and interior roads in some far off place, I found Vaibhav to be free after friday night. I insisted to come down to my place on friday night itself lest the “plan” becomes a bit long term, increasing expectations as well as the chance of screwing up.
Vaibhav took the first train in the morning from his place to Stony Brook. Looking at the warm weather, I could not at all ignore the possibility of a small ride, given that Vaibhav has accustomed to the comfort of cages in so many days on anything but a saddle.
Surprise ! Despite the overtight pillion helmet, he gave a grin - the green signal for a good enough ride for the rest of the day. Given sundown at 8pm we had pretty much time to make it to the upper east-most point of long island - the Orient Point.
A long queue of weekend cagers slowed us down beyond any kind of tolerance. We both were starving and planned to eat at a roadside mac at typical touring style, but the sight of a chinese buffet lunch restaurant could not keep me on the road with that traffic.
After filling our stomachs well despite the worries of nature’s call it was good to find the traffic speed had improved, and after a couple agonizing miles, we were finally able to do the speed limit for that road. Around 40-50 mph, but much better than bumper to bumper.
Stopped at a motorcycle dealer en route where Vaibhav could lust over the shiny cruisers and deadly sportbikes, including a hayabusa. I wish I could capture the grin of the shop manager when I introduced Vaibhav as the founder of our bangalore biker group.
Soon we were cruising through the real long island, with wineries on both sides of the road preparing for the coming season. Acres of land had been tilled and looked like those picture-book farms. The whistle of the wind and the growl of the engine suddenly reminded us - RTMC, the bangalore bullet club founded by Vaibhav on september 2001, was doing its first official US-chapter ride ! It had to start someday, with at least two members riding together, and it happened today. The first official RTMC ride was to Nandi Hills, 60 kms from Bangalore. The first official RTMC-USA ride was to Orient Point, 60 miles from Stony Brook ! Coincidence ?
It was simply a beautiful short ride. At the Orient point state park, we just relaxed and spent time with our nikons. On the way back, we enjoyed an all-american ambience sipping coffee at a small restaurant overlooking the sea, watching the sunset, while the american families enjoyed their dinner.
Coming to the routes, we took 25 east all the way to our destination. I deliberately took the unknown route 48 on the way back, but it turned out to be amazing for doing some photography which I plan to do later on, possibly around fall. After sundown, I took a detour to 495 for gas and covered a lengthier way home. Well, thats the way bikers choose their route - the more the merrier. The 60 mile destination finally ended up as a 150 mile roundtrip…
Still trying to brainwash Vaibhav to get his own bike as soon as possible…
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Snaps: Orient point (LI) ride - 16 Apr 05
Map: http://www.pbase.com/jdutta78/image/42163354
April 17th, 2005 at 10:26 am
Nice reportage and nice snapshots (I wouldn’t call them pictures, though… let’s just call them snapshots, will ya?)… I found interesting that you say:
“A long queue of weekend cagers slowed us down beyond any kind of tolerance.”
Assuming that the cagers are the people driving cars, it really surprises me that here in the US you can’t pass them with you bike? In Italy there is nothing stopping a biker. No traffic light queue, no highway queue, nothing at all… they are always moving, no matter what the “stupid cagers” are forced to do by the heavy traffic.
April 17th, 2005 at 10:31 am
On rides, I am much relaxed to capture snapshots than photographs, taking a whole lot of load off my head.
In the US, motorcycles are considered equivalent to cars, except that two motorcycles can share one lane. So a jam means getting stuck, no matter what.
April 17th, 2005 at 5:37 pm
The only place you can legally “lane split” here in the US is California. Texas has passed the law according to rumor, but it will not be in effect until Spet 1, 2005.
Most riders agree that you should ride staggered and not side-by-side, but many riders and most police riders ride side-by-side. I personally feel that doesn’t give either of us enough time for preventive measures in case of road hazzards or mechanical failure.
Happy to here that the club lives. Now you gotta get out and try to keep up with the RocketIII… Strap a nitrous kit onto that VLX and hold on… maybe flames out the back like the batmobile…
OnePoet
April 18th, 2005 at 2:39 am
hey joy/vaibs….
Great ..to see you ppl gain back on the “long Rides mode”…and well here RTMC has just got back from horsely hills after celebrating the MadBulls 3A ..how does the sound of 90 thundering beauties sound ???? and in true RTMC style the party was hijacked ..with 55 bikes from our side….some party that was…the Southern Squadron in action !!!
April 18th, 2005 at 4:26 am
Hey! Great going Joy! As Prashi already said, that was a great weekend for us guys too! Have fun, keep us updated!
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Abhi