The Thump that Binds

Ask any of the riders who came to Rider Mania, and they will surely tell you, that the feeling of brotherhood was so deeply engraved into our hearts after this event, a feeling, which we are sure will remain for a long long time.

I left you all with a glimpse of my ride up to Goa!! The problems faced on the way, the drama and the confusing confusions. Now its time for me to tell you all about the event we had come for, the fun we had and much more.

Royal Indians Enfield Owners Club aka RIEOC aka Royal Indians is the club I ride with. As you know, 40 + bikes left Bangalore on an early thursday morning led by our captain Lohith. We reached Goa, at close to midnight. Checked into the hotel.

Now most people would normally, change into more comfortable clothes, jump on the bed, crank up the A/C, put off the light, and start snoring away to glory!! If you agree, then you haven't met us!!
Even at such a late hour, everyone quickly freshened up and hit the beach for a late night/early morning celebration!!

Waiting for us at the shacks on the beach were two of our fellow club members who had come from pune.
The bottles began to flow, dry throats parched.

The next day, we all woke up fresh and buzzing with energy. One thing about any true blue bulleteer, we never start off on our bikes without a quick cleanse of the bike. A simple cloth is enough. Wipe off the dust and we're ready to roar!!
Aaaaannnd we were off to give a grand entry at the Rider Mania venue.

Crackers, sirens and the thumping of the engines were all that were heard as we made our entry. Every person at the venue turned their heads and watched us make a lion's entry. It was a sense of pure awesomeness. For a few seconds we felt we were famous, but soon realised it was our bikes and not us that was grabbing all the attention.

The time came to collect our passes and enter the event. Being good old boys, we formed a neat line : 

The event showcases custom bikes from many custom bike builders from all over the country. There are also competitions for all of us, such as Slow Biking, Dirt Track, Trials, Assembly Wars, Carry your Bike, etc.

The custom bikes were mind blowing. You could never imagine that such bikes could be spawned out of our simple, clean and beautiful looking Royal Enfields. Take a look :

The night's highlight was to be a concert by Raghu Dixit. Some found it absolutely amazing, while others found it boring. I was part of the latter.

I found the next night's performance more exciting ;-)

 Photos Courtesy : Shridhar Rao, Sreekanta Dutta, Ajit Hanamakkanavar, Vishnu Vardhan, Anil Reddy, and Myself :-D