life @ 80kmph

The Last time I ever did something that qualified to be called as a "ride" was RM'06 and it was a whole year ago!! Ages I'd say.
Today [21-Jan-07], after a whole year I set out once again to do "the-ride", a much shorter one though. The plan:- Start early morning, hit the Bangalore-Mysore Highway (SH-17) and reach Cafe Coffee Day, which is a good 75 odd kms away; have breakfast and ride back. And ofcourse the usual ripping and cruising all along!
With this grandiose plan, the later part of yesterday was spent in cleaning out the bike, (which has been standing idle for more than 20 days now!). This time I was also a bit worried, because it has been a while since I serviced it and now that it is expecting its 3rd birthday, I expect some problem or the other to show up.....Bullets are like that. If they dont give you a trouble here and there, they are no bullet :-) Ok. the Bike was cleaned and spruced up for the ride and the night was dinner at a good friend's.
And I got admonished for my idea of riding solo to mysore! haha.... there are a lot of people who still get scandalized by the idea of doing 100kms plus on a bike.
The morning Came, and the excitement started to build....I almost felt like a first timer, upto some exciting prank.
Fired up the engine and roared towards the highway with soaring spirits. Man, what a feeling it is to feel the early morning air. And ofcourse, I was expecting some friends from the bike club to hit the highway around the sametime, but didnt find any at that hour... But then I was out for my ride anyway.
While Riding, I decided to stick to 80 - 85 kmph. One, I was out of touch for a while and second, the bike was not serviced for a long while now, so it was really a little unreliable. But 80 was good. and It felt good to be back on the highways....
On the journey, I was overtaken by an R1, and once again I was overwhelmed by the speed and power of the R1. But then I was gradually lulled back by the charms of the slow and steady Bullet cruising without missing a beat :-)

Reached my breakfast halt and had a leisurely grub with some hot coffee....still looking out for fellow bikers.... Finally began the ride back! And lo and behold, at around 10:30 in the morning, I notice our bikers finally going on their ride! Looks like they didnt start on time and were late! And I didnt have the enthu left to take a U turn and join them!

In the last 20kms, I actually complemented my decision. Because the low point of this whole ride was that on the home run, I broke a gear shifter spring and my bike would now allow me only to shift to first gear! The shifter wouldnt budge downwards....So I had to make a little irritating but working improvisation...I started shifting gears with my neutral finder (oh man....it is indeed a boon to have this thing - unique only to the Bullet, in the whole wide world - I shiver at the thought of this happening to any other bike!) and managed to reach home..

Oh! whatta morning! An exhilirating ride.... a nice comfy breakfast...and last but not the least..... a broken gearshifter spring!

Well, life does get exciting @ 80kmph.