It was time for me to go for my first group ride.

I had joined a biking group. It was time to go for a ride. On our first breakfast ride, I was so excited I couldn't sleep the whole night. The plan was to leave at 5 am early in the morning. I was sure that we are going to be delayed. No one is punctual in India, especially about things like leaving on time, coming on time and so on. Since I couldn't sleep the whole day, I was at the first meeting spot on time. It took me by surprise to see Kartik and Sankalp there on time too. Wow, people do follow rules here!!!.

The rules

We left on time, and we met more people at the meeting point 2 and 3 and finally, we were heading towards our destination for breakfast. By the way, Kartik left 2 of them behind who weren't on time. This haunts me till now and helps me come on time on every ride.

The moment we hit the highway, I started to increase my speed only to be stopped by another rule, "No one shall overtake the lead". I was like, what the heck!!!, the lead(Kartik) was driving at 80kmph, that was slow, but to stick to the rules, I stay just on his tails. I thought of a new Idea, I started slowing down, and thought I'll keep myself the last and then will drive fast overtaking everyone till I reach the lead. But, rule alert!!! "No one shall ride behind the tail". I was lost. I was stuck driving at 80kmph the whole way. If anyone slowed the whole group slowed, if anyone went fast, well you can't overtake the lead, so play between the tail and the lead.

At first, it was frustrating for me, but soon I started realizing the logic and importance of these rules. The whole group sticks together like a team. We were on a group ride, not an individual ride. I realized the importance more when I took a wrong turn and got lost. Soon, Kartik found me and I saw the whole group waiting for me.

Ride slow, ride long

After this ride, we did a lot of smaller rides, and every time I learned a new thing about the mechanics of a group ride. I started getting more and more confident on-road and in turn, started enjoying our slow ride. Individually, you are fast but vulnerable, in a group you are slow but safe. I always wanted to ride for my whole life, and Kartik helped me understand that you ride slow, you ride long. The faster you ride above the speed limit, the sooner my biking can end. This stuck by me and stopped trying to overtake him every time.

Well, although I started following the rules somewhat happy and whole heartedly, having a sports bike, sometimes I wanted to unleash all that power. Well, thankfully, sometimes Kartik allowed me to overtake him and for the first time, I touched 140kmph(I crossed this one later too) on a road with a speed limit of 80kmph. I was enjoying my somewhat freedom and laxation of rules responsibly and exploited it only on some occasions.

We went on many short rides ranging from 70kms to 300kms round trip rides for breakfast or lunch depending on the weather. In all of them, the highlight was the ride and not the food. We usually eat the same thing every time with a cup of tea/coffee.

After many short rides, it was time for a long ride. Lansdowne, it was. My first long ride. I'm gonna end this one here and talk about Lansdowne in the next one.

That's it for this one guys, stay tuned and I'll see you around.