It's indeed a rare sight to see half-a-dozen Harleys together in Madurai and it's even rarer to ride them all the way from Malaysia! A group of six riders belonging to ShadowFax motorcycle club, Kulala Lumpur, clocked over 13,000 kms, traversing six countries for over a month, simply for the love of riding. When they reached Madurai last week on the 36th day of their ride, their joy knew no bounds. Crossing the rainforests of Malaysia, the beaches of Thailand and through the mountainous landscape of Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal, the riders entered India via UttarPradesh and rode to reach the southern tip of Kanyakumari. “We have been doing charity all along the way. The aim of the ride is to spread love and good will. We are businessmen based in Kuala Lumpur and it was on our bucket list for a long time to ride to India,” says Dato Anand, the President of the club. “We have named this initiative as ‘Merdeka ride’, to mark the Malaysian independence.”
“As fourth generation Tamils living in Malaysia, we also wanted to express our solidarity will fellow Tamilians here. So far on the ride, we have contributed money to orphanages and old-age homes. But our main objective is to help cancer patients,” says G S Raja, one of the riders. The Shadowfax club has over 26 Harley owners as members and takes up annual rides for charity. “This ride was breathtaking and also challenging. Riding through Myanmar was extremely difficult due to bad ghat roads. Certain stretches were complete off-roads and to ride a cruising bike like the Harley-Davidson was nerve-racking,” says Subramaniam Appla Naidoo.
Harley-Davidson is a cruiser and makes for a breezy ride on the highways. But since the bike weighs over 450kgs, to balance it on pothole ridden off-roads is a daunting task. “Along with our body weight and luggages, we were riding a total weight of close to 600kgs. It was physically straining but the pleasure of the ride was worth it,” says Kumaresan Ramakrishnan. “We have spent nearly Rs. 7,00,000 on the expedition apart from the donations. We managed to ride a minimum of 350 kms a day and on the highways we could easily clock over 800 kms in a single day.”
“Biking gives us a different kind of a high that no other sport can. We were touched when biker brethren from different cities helped and hosted us. In Madurai, we were greeted with love from the various clubs in town like the Freedom Riders. Biking has booming into an integrated subculture the world over,” says Udayaseelan. “Apart from just a hobby and lifestyle, biking is also a kind of religion. We are mostly on the roads and we take in many things that happen outside the wall of our homes. And we step in wherever we can and be of help. Purposeful biking is now becoming a trend among matured bikers, other than the fun and joy of travel.”
The riders hope to enter the Malaysian Book of Records for this cross-country ride done on a Harley-Davidson.
