When I came back from washington DC yesterday I was tired like hell, not because I had to walk a lot to photograph the anti-war rally, but because I was terribly bored to sit idle for 5+5 hours on the bus. I got my license just the day before, and wasn’t without a sense of guilt that a perfect day was spent off of the saddle.
The temporary address of my cousin brother was lying on the desk. It was somewhere in Vernon, CT. Google maps showed a 170 miles. I knew the shortcut by taking the ferry from Port Jefferson, NY to Bridgeport, CT and then riding only 70 miles. On the spur of the moment, I decided to surprise my brother early today.
Memories of waking up before dawn for weekend rides in India came rushing by. It was as much pleasure to ride my royal enfield as I am having now with my honda shadow. I had hardly 4 hours of sleep before I set off, with barely any reddish tinge in the sky. Heck, I thought, a biker shouldnt think about shortcuts, so I would take the longer way.
As I cruised west along the long island expressway, I could see some ethereal scenary on the mirror. It was a beautiful dawn, with a magnificient play of all hues of red and yellow, and nothing but a straight road ahead. Some dark clouds on the western sky made an even more dramatic landscape. Despite having my digital SLR I had to kick myself for not being able to stop.
It was my first ride on Throgs neck bridge. It took me by surprise when I started crossing it, as again it presented as a magnificent photographic subject, lit up with golden light with the dark black clouds in the background. Again I could not stop and promised myself to return back sometime.
Other than the frequent fuel stops, 170 miles were over before I knew it.
And I was at the address my brother gave me, a nice apartment complex, but without the apartment number. I tried to find his home phone number but soon discovered it missing, probably another yellow sticky note back in my desk. So I called up his parents in India and asked them to call him so he comes out to meet me. In a few minutes it was a great re-union after more than 2 years. We had an extremely good time talking about photography, and had a sumptuous chinese lunch.
I retraced my way on the return journey, again chucking the idea of taking the ferry shortcut. There was just no need to spend $22 to cut short a beautiful ride by 100 miles. Totally against a biker’s rational logic. So it had to be the long way again, feeling blissfully happy to have finished my longest day ride in the USA.
The GPS, as expected, saved a lot of time figuring routes out. Some statistics from it would be entertaining:
Miles: 350
Moving time: 6:30 hours
Moving avg speed: 54 mph
I really love my bike now. It is a beautiful and reliable machine to maintain and ride.
However I think I outgrew it today. The biggest gripe is none other than the puny tank which I had to keep refilling every 60 miles just to be safe. It hit the reserve once at 70 miles when I was riding at 75mph continuously. Also, lack of leg wind protection is pretty much annoying, when the strong wind literally opens up my legs.
I think I also found out what my next bike is going to be. It has to be powerful, with a large tank, storage bags built in, and leg wind protection. Honda ST1300 is an ideal choice but affordability of that fine piece of machine is a big issue for me. Kawasaki Concours 1000cc is claimed as the most bike for the buck and I have loved its specifications. Gotta see !
The route: goole map link