Today was an interesting day to ride to work. It was raining (finally) and that instantly put me in very high spirits. So I was zooming along on my mooched Unicorn (er... yes, I'm on a Unicorn for a bit) when I hit the long stretch from the Andheri flyover (Western Express Highway) to the Airport signal. They've recently resurfaced the stretch with those concrete slabs that have holes in them. Pretty common in Delhi, the slabs, about two and half feet and one and half foot (I think) are riddled with orderly holes. The installation involves filling the holes with construction grade crushed granite pebbles and loads of tar. Supposed benefit is a really long life.Anyway, so I took off when the pedestrian signal turned green and progressively worked my way to full throttle in fifth gear. And then the rear end went all greasy. Now, I was doing my smoothest best, and I swear I did not do anything to provoke the slide. It took me a few seconds to work out what happened. The tyre was spinning up! On a freaking Unicorn, which has the gentlest power delivery of the lot. That, is how slippery the stuff is. I also realised this moments later, when I was braking to stop at the signal. I started feathering the brakes with almost half a kilometre to go and still, the surface obstinately refused to offer any grip whatsoever. Bugger! I think dirty, muddy tarmac has more grip.
Got a bit scared, definitely. But I have a feeling, I will be provoking the wheelspin tomorrow and laughing inside the helmet...
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He he he he...
ReplyDeleteWas doing that yesterday in our office parking lot. Due to rain, and the super smooth tiles, i was having a lot of fun doing wheel spins, while the security chap was looking on curiously and suspiciously...
Must have been pretty scary at highway like speeds !!
i followed a link on faster & faster and came to your blog. awesome stuff dude! ur blog is better than most indian biker blogs ive see. keep up the good work. cheers!
ReplyDeleteYour comment/take on the Ducati takeover by Bajaj?
ReplyDeleteMan, if BAL is able to produce and cell a 300cc Monster, i will be the first one in the queue.
The monster's my Elanor... (Gone in 60 secs)
Sigh, now only if i can stop dreaming :(
Oh yeah, those slabs are pretty common here in Delhi - only, I thought they are sheets of some rubber-like material.
ReplyDeleteThey are supposed to reduce resurfacing needs, but instead make hell go round our two wheels and four. They get aw-so-slippery when wet - I tread them like Cinderella in glass slippers. And the heat of the summer makes them go all soft, and if a truck or two roll by - distortion le permanente occurs!
Very often, especially at turns where the weight of the vehicle goes centripetal and pushes on the surface in a direction against the turn, you'll find those sheets becoming wavy around the turn.
In short, sheet = shit.