Goa the land of beaches and beaches and sand and the sea. That’s the way the people publicise Goa in India. But to people who have been riding in Goa know that the place has lovely roads too.

Day 1:

This had not been the first time I had been to Goa, so on the top of the priority list was hiring ‘a bike’ and travelling. So the three of us freshened up and were on the way to the local shack for some food. On the way a person asking if we needed bikes to travel in Goa stopped us. Asked him the rates and since it was ‘off-season- time expected it to be a little less. But NO! Rs350.00 a day was what he claimed to be off-season rates.

Claiming that he give out bikes to ‘phoreners’ at around Rs. 700.00 a day; a pathetic attempt to justify his rates. Given that we were living in a small town, or rather a big village kind of scene there was not much hope of finding other ‘vendors’. So after quite a lot of haggling we managed to settle 2 bikes at Rs.300.00 each / day. Suddenly his memory seemed to return and he said that he could give us only one bullet and another 100cc Yamaha because some ‘phoren’ fellow (again?) had taken his other bike and not yet returned it and could give it to us only the next day. Since the hiring rates for a 100cc bike are lesser than a Bullet, another round of haggling over the prices and we were done. Took the two bikes and went out to eat. We rode the bikes for around a 100 kms that day, up north and back down south. The lovely highway gave us some nice views and an regular bend in the road so as to not make it completely boring. Fields on either sides, up a small hill and then down it, enough to get me accustomed back to the Bullet from what I ride back home. The only problem was that the front twin leading shoes were not aligned properly and were of no use.

It’d been a long time since I rode a bullet. Riding an RD everyday in life your ideas about top speed and acceleration are a bit different. I found the difference most enjoyable, because unlike the RD I was watching the scenery more, feeling less worried about a high speed crash (because I was riding around slowly at around 70-80kmph all day). And the riding angle is much better for touring than my café-racer styled RD.

Had to exchange the Bullet for the Yamaha though on the way back and only then did I realise that riding a small bike over long distances can get frustrating. It kept getting thrown up over the bumps, had very little in terms of brakes (must be the fad around here) and a vibrating handle bar. Just wanted the 350 back.

Day 2:

Finally, the other Bullet arrives, but that is a Machismo. The faster of the two bikes, but I have always preferred the slower, heavier fly wheeled bullets to the new ones. And if I had wanted a fast bike I’d probably have put the RD on the train to Goa. So the second day passed with a

lot of riding again mainly through the city to book our bus tickets back home. Realised that everyone seemed to be desperate to get back the same day that we’d planned to. So we decided to extend our stay a day longer. After we got the tickets and everything we came back to the flat and did some riding to nearby beaches in the evening. Did some bargaining on the beach with some hawkers, had some tea and fish. Not very interesting overall.

Since there is nothing of interest to write about the day, let me tell you people about the bike. This bike a mid 90s(?) black standard Bullet was an interesting specimen. It had lost its battery cover and in rainy Goa this can be a bit of a worry. No electronic ignition and this made me feel better since I haven’t seen a good CDI ignition till date, even for my RD (it still runs on points and is very reliable). The bike had been freshly serviced, so no unwanted noises or vibrations. Since Goa is flooded with these bikes they don’t have a problem finding a right person for the job I guess. The bike had 10% of its front brakes working and the back brakes very fine. But this can be a bit unnerving in the beginning because I rely on the front brakes to do almost all the braking on the RD. The bike did a comfortable ~70-90kmph all and I didn’t push it more because of the lack of knowledge of this particular bike. I did however take it till an indicated 120kmph twice on the highway, no problemo. Fuel consumption for those interested was a respectable 30-35kmpl average. Don’t know if the speedo and odo were overenthusiastic.

Day 3:

This was the kind of day I really enjoy. We did a lot of riding, dumped the over crowded beaches to the silent hills, dumped the highway for some hilly terrain and the sunshine for quite a lot of rain (this last one we had no hand in though 🙂 )

The popular beaches in Goa are cramped with people. If you ever want to visit beaches go to the peaceful villages where they have smaller beaches but very clean and non-commercialised. People who visit Goa on ‘guided tours’ are brought in hordes and thrown out of the cabs onto the beach with a time limit. They jump around and ‘enjoy’ in the time that the tour operator has given them and then zoom off to the next beach. Avoid them.

So we rode the bike up some roads that led to an old fort overlooking a cliff into the sea. Very peaceful, and empty by the time we reached there. We sat on the cliff looking into the sea, click some mandatory snaps and back to the bikes. The other two on the Machismo rode away ahead while my bike gave me the one and only problem of the entire time. It refused to start. All the stunts with the decompression lever, checking for fuel flow and everything did not seem to work. I started blaming the bike lender for having given me a bike with a battery exposed to all elements, in my mind. But mysteriously the bike restarted and I had to race to catch up with them. I still have no clue what had happened. Everything seemed well till we started coming down the hill (?). The brakes in their unadjusted for are of no help. (Like people didn’t know that) Just finished coming down and had a long ride back still left.

The last time I had been to Goa I had err…. discovered a route through the hills that’s pretty curvy all that way to the top and tapers down. So I dragged the guys to follow me through the route. That’s when the skies opened up again. We had continuous on and off showers. Blinding rain, visibility of maybe 20ft, and then it’d stop. Finally we got through, with out becoming a wall paper on a lorry backside or something.

When we reached the house, we were pretty strained. So, we went out for some dinner and then slept. The next morning the man was back for his bikes and we had to return them. Till I came back home and did some riding here, I had very serious thoughts about selling my bike for a bullet. But as of now the heart wants both and the pocket none. Maybe I’ll try public transport for a few years instead of fuel for the RD, maybe then. 😉