Lambasingi. If I’d said we were chasing snow at a mere 1000 metres above sea level, you’d have laughed at my face. Yet the place exists. The reality of its climate still a mystery. And here we were, chasing it. The Snow Chasers.
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Muffled, heavy breathing. Light from the oncoming vehicle refracted by the million tiny scratches on my visor into a halogen kaleidoscope, blazing through my orbit. A curtain of fog so thick, that if not for the rumble of a dozen and half mechanical beasts, you’d be lost in the ocean of vapour. Through my delirious fever, I watch eighteen. Or maybe is it just one ? A long, graceful animal weaving a serpentine dance through the black asphalt. Each rider pitching and rolling in tandem.
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A dance that is drilled into the subconscious from 12 hours on the saddle, spanning eight hundred kilometres of land over two states. Pushing the limits of man and machine. But more importantly, a test to see what a group of everyday men – not riders – but teachers, accountants, businessmen, could achieve on their machines when they put the pack above self.
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At the summit, as night fall drops, the mist swirls in around us. We huddle around a fire. Only the flesh needs warmth. Our hearts blaze with the warmth of companionship. Raucous laughter, merciless fun.
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Paradoxically, as the fellowship grows tighter, the jokes grow ever the more imaginative and soon I’m left gasping for air – the bellowing laughter worsening my already malignant wheeze.
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Next noon, As I lay back on my bike eyes closed, trying to get an hour’s worth of rest in 10 minutes, I can hear the men moving around , laughing, bickering. It’s hard to believe that just minutes ago, these men were hunkered down over their metallic beasts, goading them on to run ever faster. How far can you push a man ? How far can you push a machine ? To what extent can you blur the line between a man and his machine ? As these questions spin around my mind, on and off.
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Renegades. Outlaws. A breed of men who have extricated themselves from the cages of society. From norms. From the status quo. A breed of men dictated by passion. By the love for the common good.
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Did we chase down the snow ? Not really. But would that stop us from chasing after what we set after, in the future ? Never.
Ride With Pride!
1 thought on “Ride to Lambasingi”
Your articles takes us on a virtual tour of the trip and the beautiful place.