MAN AND MACHINE: Motorcyclists need perfect coordination

Siraj Anwar had almost forgotten his manic motorbiking days. The 28-year-old Bangalore-based software professional’s one-time favourite friend — a gleaming red 100 cubic-centimetre Yamaha motorcycle — had been gathering dust and oil stains in a dark garage corner for the last six years. Work had come between the two companions. “I had no time for my hobby,” he says.

Till he enrolled for a three-day crash course in motorbike racing at Bangalore’s recently started Motocross Academy. Anwar rediscovered the thrills, chills and spills of biking. He drove full-throttle over 10-feet high jumps, turned in the air, spun across sharp bends and felt like a man. “I was living out my favourite fantasy,” he says. Anwar’s two-wheeled pal has since been pulled out of the garage corner and sent to a mechanic for a complete overhaul.

The Motocross Academy is just what the doctor ordered for wannabe bikers. The training academy – touted as the first of its kind in India – tells first-timers, pros and even children everything they wanted to know about motorbike racing — but were too inexperienced to ask. The academy aims to pull motorbiking out of television — it figures prominently on sports channels — and make it a real-time game in India.

“Motorbiking is a popular spectator sport in India. But we give biking enthusiasts a real feel of the sport,” says Shyam Kothari, the owner of Motocross Academy.

Despite the high number of eye-balls that biking shows on television garner, the sport itself has remained a mere spectator game in India, mainly because it is not easy to nurture a passion for biking. In the first place, it is an expensive sport — one sports bike costs between Rs 2 and Rs 3 lakh. And second, before Motocross, India had no professional training academies for motorbike racing.

Kothari says he zeroed in on Bangalore to start his academy as the city is believed to have the highest number of motorsport enthusiasts. Since last month, the academy has run five batches and each has gone house-full. Every batch has had five people, and Kothari says he keeps the group small to be able to give personal attention to every motorbike enthusiast.

The biking bug is biting adventure-seekers hard. Kothari claims that students, doctors and IT professionals are joining up by the bikeload. And although companies such as TVS and Yamaha are putting together factory teams to represent the firms in national and international motorbiking events, most biking enthusiasts have no professional ambitions.

The three-day basic course is tailor-made for high-adrenaline seekers. The only eligibility criterion for a candidate to enrol is that he must know how to drive a bike. Of course, nerves of steel and iron-strong guts are the unwritten requirements of the sport. The academy promises to teach the rest.

The Motocross Academy is located on the outskirts of Bangalore, against a back-drop of palm trees and fresh water ponds. Classes start at the crack of dawn. Students assemble for the mandatory warm-up exercise session, after which they get on their bikes and hit the circular 800-metre dust track.

The academy provides the bikes and safety gear — which includes boots, knee guards, elbow guards, gloves, chest protectors, helmets and goggles — to the students. As the bikes roar to life, dust and noise unceremoniously break the morning calm. Energy flies higher than the dust as the bikers ride over 10 feet-high sand mounds, fly over table-tops and spin around sharp bends. Skidding, falling and turning turtle are all part of the game. No one minds the scratches and bruises. And the safety gear keeps serious injury at bay.

Students are trained in speed, technique, safety and on developing the right mental outlook. “Bikers need to feel confident and positive about the sport, in order to overcome the fear of falling,” says Kothari.

Age and driving licence are no bar for learning motorbiking at Motocross. The academy runs a course for children in the age group of six to 11 years. Students are provided with small-sized motorcycles and given elementary training in motorbiking. “The younger you are, the faster you learn,” says Kothari.

But biking comes at a price at Motocross. The three-day basic course costs Rs 3,000, while the advanced course comes with a price tag of Rs 5,000. But it’s money well spent, says Anwar. “For me biking is like playing golf. I unwind my nerves, bust stress and feel carefree when I ride my motorcycle,” he says.

Rohit Giri, whose love for biking began the day he got his first dinky motorcycle, adds a touch of Zen to the art of motorcycling. Biking has taught him some important lessons in life, he says. “Motorbike racing is about controlling the mind and body. The sport needs perfect co-ordination between man and machine.”

Biking was Giri’s first love. He’s tried all sorts of stunts on his old faithful Yamaha motorcycle. But driving a racing bike at the Motocross Academy has been a whole new experience. “Racing bikes have the aerodynamics and power for real high-speed driving,” he says during a break in the course.

The break-time is over. Giri puts on his helmet, kick-starts the bike and spins back to the dust track. For the next one hour, he tirelessly runs through the ‘triple jump – table top – sweep – single jump’ routine of the racing track. This is Giri’s only world for the moment.