Mid-Life Rider

One of my life-long friends and riding buddy has taken his family off on an around-the-world tour. Actually, let’s give total credit, the entire family have taken themselves off on an around the world tour.

They’re presently in India where they met a guy named Stu who is riding all over the place on one of the locally manufactured Royal Enfields. His blog is raw and lots of fun. Here’s a particularly delightful post called “Things I’ve Learned in India”

* Don’t ask leading questions like “Is this the way to Chennai.” because you’ll inevitably get a “yes” and a nod/shake of the head.* On the flip side, asking for anything generally results in “Yes, no problem.”
* Indian bike mechanics are the best in the world. + The quickest & cheapest.
* All Indian coach and bus drivers are homicidal @#!$*’s.
* Riding a motorbike with the gearshifter on the wrong side and upsidedown.
* Eating raw chillis, good for the digestion.
* Why have 1 person do a job when you can have 8. (This does not mean things happen 8 times faster, rather the reverse.)
* Indians haven’t figured out what to do with rubbish, other than dump it in the street/River/Sea.
* The Lonely Planet guidebook is a pile of crap.
* Everything is really cheap.
* Everyday in India, you see something hilarious, insane, heartbreaking, breathtaking, ugly or beautiful.

And this one is just a slice . . . called Ganga Bike News

Hope everyone has had a nice crimbo. First off I’m going to start off with some bike news. After 4000km on Indian roads, I thought the bike was deserving of a major service . In the end it did turn out to be pretty MAJOR. In the end I had a new piston and cylinder block, valves re-ground, new clutch plates, fork seals and a general overhall. Ended up costing me just under 60 quid. Man, I love this country!

My first river crossing. Also the first time I’ve ridden bare foot, with rolled up trousers. The water came above the footpegs!!

Poor old knackered piston. Don’t worry, you did your job well:)

Got the paintbrushes out and did a bit of bike customisation. Had to fly the flag for the Empire!

Go Stu!

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Tags: Stuin India, Royal Enfield, India, Midlifer, Midlife Rider