Cuddalore Biker's Club - First Meeting on 22 Feb 2015

The Cuddalore Bikers Club is a community that has just got started off in my town. All the back and forth communication happened only through the WhatsApp group wherein my friend Sumthi Mehta has suggested me be added to the group. Apart from Sumthi, I do not know any other members of the group. There were about 50 bikers in this WhatsApp group. 

The meeting was coined by Kaviarasan Thirugnanam who had fired up the idea of congregating bikers living here in my town Cuddalore. The meet was scheduled at 7.30 a.m. on Sunday, the 22nd Feb 2015, @ "Devanampattinam Silver Beach". 

As of me, I am a newbie in this group, do not know anybody other than Sumthi, I was not that keen to go for this meet. But the word "Biker" was always chiming in me. Since the evening of 21st Feb, continuous updates by Kavi arrived in the WhatsApp group, all those pings were in a professional attire, something pulled me to go for the meet. 

I confirmed myself to go to the meeting only 30 minutes prior to the meeting time. It should be a great time to bump with like minded passionate bikers. 

My elder kid had a practice session for his TaekWonDo session, so I dropped him at Koothapakkam and set my next sojourn to Devanampattinam Silver Beach which was about 4 kms away.,

I never expected more than 5 bikers. Once I arrived there, I was in for a surprise to see this. What stumped me was, many premium high speed bikes were lined up. There were 30 bikes lined up in area earmarked for the club. Some four Royal Enfield bulls were there to give a company to my bull TN45 4732, a 1990 STD350 workhorse.

Little into the meeting, we all got introduced. There was a surprise with a guy from Chennai arriving at this meetup. Something is special to this meeting.  I shared my little knowledge of group riding, safety gears, safe riding tips, group ride formations & rules, ... Glad that I got positive feedback from many of the members after I finished my short 10 minutes talk ... 

This club is open for anybody who has vehicle with two wheels and is driven by an engine and no restriction on the bike's engine power.

Just bump in and enjoy., 

In the end, as I eyed-in to Kavi, all bikes were linedup in the open ground and had a good photo op.

Doing this is usually a time consuming process, but all bikers understood the need for a pic and assembled their bikes in the lineup within 10 minutes.

Have a nice time watching this half minute video. After finishing this video, I thought its over and time to leave.  Another surprise awaited. Kavi made the next interesting announcement. There would be a group ride around the town. I was in for a joy.  I opted to be a sweeper for the group and wanted Kavi to lead the convoy. But, after dilly dallying, I was made to lead the convoy of 40 bikers. 

I was never a lead in any of the moment so far in public life. Leave alone my family.  But an astonishment awaited when I was assigned to lead the group . Its not a small group, there were nearly 40 bikes and all were to go through the public roads that is amply filled with morning traffic.  Though I know the Ins and Outs of a group ride, it was a butterfly in the stomach moment. I made sure that the ride is at a slower pace. 

Once we clocked past one kilometre, when I was watching the fellow bikers on my side mirror, all were exactly in a single line, that too no one was honking, no one was overtaking, as was advised, I was engulfed in goose bumps.  Wow, what a great moment. We started off at Silver Beach, reached Woodlands hotel, turned right, reached Post Office, turned left and then moving on the road leading to Govt Hospital. 

All these moments, I was keenly watching my rear view mirror. All the bikers were sticking to the left most end of the road. This is to avoid any disturbance to the public traffic.  That was a nervous moment when I noticed an ambulance in my rear view mirror. It was coming at a farther end, though without the siren, making its way forward. As exactly while we were nearing the hospital, the ambulance was nearer me with its left indicator to turn. it was a dilly dallying moment since our convoy was going to be stopped.  

But as I pressed my brakes, so was all the fellow bikers... All of them stopped in precision. That was another goose bump moment. No one went to the side ways, all stopped in line.  Then we all moved past after the ambulance turned into the hospital which was on the left side of the road.

Then we reached Semmandalam, turned left and went into the Kammiampet road. As we touched past the Gadilum bridge, we dispersed as planned.  

No hiccups... Wonderful experience. First time in my life.  There were more trips being planned. Interesting updates are in the making...  Click here to visit the FanPage of the Cuddalore Bikers Club.  Have a look. Like the page and Come join for an upcoming meeting and then for a ride...