I?m rolling on and on and on/ who knows where I?m goin?,? echoes the carefree biker as he cruises for days on end. Life?s a highway for him and every day a winding road when astride his two-wheeler, he feels the wind blowing through his hair and encounters new sights and sounds. ?In a car you?re watching the world like a film, but on a bike you are the film. No mountain, bad road or river can stop a biker in his quest for adventure,? says die-hard biker Srinidhi Raghavendra who?s travelled for 45 long days on his 110cc TVS Victor from Garhwal to Sikkim.

Donning his riding gear of jacket, gloves, boots and helmet and zooming down the open road is an allure that a motorbike traveller just can?t resist.

On Sunday mornings before dawn breaks, Bangalore-based graphic designer Abhijith Rao is off on his Royal Enfield Thunderbird with his group of four bike mates on any road that leads out of the city. Preferably hilly roads. ?Straight roads are boring, though you can go up to high speeds of 150kph-160kph. But the challenges of back roads are irresistable where your speed might spiral down to 30kph,? says Rao, a member of the Royal Thunder Motorcycle Club (Bangalore Bullet Club).

Self-sustenance is key when on the road. That means the biker has to know about the basic repairs and maintenance or else ?he could get stranded in some remote place or may even get cheated by a crooked mechanic,? warns Raghavendra. And there are remote parts of the country where it?s a long way to the next gas station. A first-aid kit is also a must-carry item.

While negotiating blind curves, says Rao, he has seen his friends fly off the roads and land themselves in bamboo groves as they encountered trucks lumbering down on them. There?s one rule when on the road: if you?re smaller than the other vehicle, get out of their way.

The most basic biker requirements are that the bike should be heavy duty, the tyres should be easily repaired when punctured and it should have a large capacity fuel tank for long rides. Hard saddlebags are a necessity for storing luggage and the seat has to be comfortable to sit on for long hours.

Adventures are not far off when you?re on the bike. While travelling in Jammu and Kashmir with his friends, Raghavendra was suspected to be a militant. ?I had a long beard at the time. Even my friends were apprehended. We had to make quite a few calls to get ourselves out of the mess we were in,? he says recalling the trip that he made as a student.

Such instances are not rare. Canadian bikers Grant and Susan Johnson were chased by lions in Malawi while on their round-the-world tour on motorcycles. American motorcyclist Glen Heggstad was kidnapped by the rebel army in Columbia but he escaped and continued to finish his journey to the tip of South America. Rao and his biker mates ran into an elephant with its calf at night while they were climbing a steep curve on their way to Madumalai.

There are biking clubs across the country such as Wolf Pack (all India Bullet Club), InddieThumpers (Bombay Bullet Club), Eastern Bulls (Calcutta), Madras Bulls (Chennai), Wanderers (Hyderabad) and 60 kph (all India Touring Club). Each of these are constantly organising expeditions.

Some bikers travel in groups of three and sometimes even in groups of upto 25. ?It?s safer to travel in a larger group especially when you have mechanical problems.

Motorbike travellers have their own favourite roads. ?The best ride from Bangalore that offers all kinds of terrain is the 300-km ride to Ooty. On the way you can chug down straight roads through Mysore onto winding roads that lead to the Bandipur forest region and then to Madumalai,? says Rao.

Raghavendra calls the NH 48, the coastal highway from Goa to Mangalore and on till Kanyakumari, the mother of all biker roads. Krishnan says that Ladakh is the best place to bike across. ?It?s like a mountain desert. The scenery keeps changing,? he says.

If bikers are a rare breed, women bikers are even rarer, especially so in India. There is, for instance, Sherin Balachandran, an architect who often makes solo trips from Bandra to Mysore. Then there?s Rashna Joshua who is a biker and bike racer to the boot. Says Balachandran, ?There?s a perception that to be on the bike you have to be hefty, but it?s a complete misnomer.? Nor is there any hesitation or real fear to be out on the roads alone. ?Once you?re out, you just deal with a situation. It?s more in the cities when you?re stranded with a flat that you?re harassed,? she says.

So if you don?t mind spending long dusty days in the saddle and on the roads, or if you?re open to new experiences, to meet interesting people and discover unusual ways of life, biking is a great way to go.