For 20 year old Shahil Menezes, biking is almost a way of life. But Menezes who became part of the Harley Owners Group two years ago decided to take his love for bikes to the next level when he enlisted to be a part of the Big Five challenge organised by Harley Davidson India.
“ Harley Davidson organises five biking events every year one of which is the India Bike Week which is held in Goa. These events are held in different parts of India -North, South, East and West. For this challenge the biker is supposed to ride all the way to these places and back. All five journeys have to be completed in a year,” explains Menezes, who took the challenge last year. Last year the events were held at Delhi, Aurangabad, Kolkotta and Kochi.
The unforgettable experience, according to Menezes was both interesting but scary at the same time. “While in most places the roads was fabulous, in Kochi, the the roads were very bad. To top it off, the guys decided to the whole 840 km journey back in one shot without a nap break,” recollects Menezes. “ We started at 6.30am in the morning and only reached Karwar at 5.30 the next morning.”
As they were struggling to keep their eyes open however, they decided to take a two hour break. “I was back home by 10 in the morning and then went straight to college to discover that we were having a test!,” chuckles Menezes, who is currently doing his first year in business administration from Goa University. “ Luckily the professor was from Kerala and when I told her that I had just come from Kochi, she wasn't so hard on me.”
But although the roads were great at other places, Menezes reveals that the manner of people on the road was crazy. “ In one instance when I was going at a great speed, this man suddenly emerged from the bushes out of nowhere, looked at me and then got on his cycle and pedal led away. I was hardly 300 meters away from him!” he recalls. Apart from this, the group faced quite a few mishaps along the way especially due to stray animals. “At one time, a sheep went under the tires of a bike like a balloon but then it just got up and walked away!” he remembers. Their Delhi trip too was not without it's 'heart in the mouth' moments. “ We heard about this other group that was returning back who were shot in the leg and had their bikes stolen. Although we took another route, it was a little scary to think about it,” he admits.
By successfully completing the challenge, Menezes also became the youngest from Goa and the youngest guy in India to do so. “I wanted to be the youngest in India, however there was another girl of my age who was doing the challenge too. And she was just two months younger than me! But at least I got to be the youngest guy to do it till now,” he says.
As for undertaking more thrilling challenges, Menezes is now aiming to do something out in Europe. “It's much more safer there and there are more facilities. There isn't so much worry about the bikes being stolen because these are fairly common out there. Here, during our trip, we had to stay in five star hotels just so that we could be ensured of our bike safety and this proved to be quite expensive even to the extent that we sometimes had to go without breakfast,” says Menezes, adding that he has also recently acquired a Ducatti and goes out riding with this group as well.
