(I'm back to writing about something I like best - Driving!)
I say consequences because my reasoning might not actually make it clear in the end if it's good or bad to drive slow, although it's purely a matter of choice. And by slow, I mean slow by MY standards, considering that I usually drive in the 70-100kph speed range even in the city. So slow here means in the 50-60kph range, or putting it another way, in the 4-5k rpm range, the usual being 7-9k and redlining before every up-shift. But anyway, here's the reason I've been committing this "act" pretty consistently since about 2 weeks now. My new year's resolution this time has been to-quite unlike me-extract maximum fuel efficiency from my bike. No, wait, please don't laugh, I'm serious. I know its very much NOT in line with my reputation of being an adrenaline junkie on the road. But these days of recession and the news of an upcoming trucker's strike and petrol pumps going dry has made my resolve even steelier. Apart from that, my bike's engine has been running-again quite unlike it-unusually smooth, thus making it harder for me get the ohhh so yummy vibrations when I rev the hell out of it! The performance hasn't been affected one bit though, so I'm happy anyway.
So let's start by listing out the the advantages-
- My expletive-meter (while on the road) has gone down a few notches. This is obviously due to the fact that I'm driving slow myself and rarely in a hurry, so there isn't a need to give the "move out my way you .........." treatment to anyone.
- Same reason why I honk a lot lesser.
- It gives me that extra second to dodge any potholes and speed-bumps. At my usual speed I hardly care about dodging any at all.
- It gives me an extra moment to gaze at a PYT on the road without risking an accident.
- I can listen to even "soft" songs on my i-pod while riding my bike. That's partly due to the smoother engine. And at my usual speeds, the engine sound as well that of the air rushing past makes it difficult to listen to any music at all, even with noise-canceling earphones.
- It's easier talk to anyone riding pillion for the same reason.
- I shake less because of the chilling air. At 50kph you hardly feel any wind at all.
- When a friend of your's is driving say a Splendor or Victor, which cannot go as fast as your bike, you need to slow down for him to catch up. But with my new found enthusiasm to drive slow, my "slower" friends can always keep up.
- While cruising at 50-60kph and in the 4-5k rpm range, I know I still have at least 50% of the engine power in reserve waiting to be tapped on for a flyby.
- AND The most important one- MORE MILEAGE! I know that extracting a decent mileage from a CBZ is like trying to find the holy grail. But I gladly take anything better than I normally get. So I'm up from the usual 35kmpl to almost 42-43kmpl. Not bad at all considering that for the Rs.300 worth of petrol that I put in at every re-fueling, I'm able to make an extra round-trip to my office which is about 25km from home.
And the disadvantages-
- It takes me an extra 15 min. to reach office, so I have to start early, which means waking up 15 min. earlier as well. Now everyone knows how excruciating it is to sacrifice those precious last 15 min. of comforting sleep on chilly winter mornings.
- This I miss a lot - revving the crap out of the engine.
- Wow...i can hardly think of any other disadvantages...damn...
- Ummmmmm... still thinking...
- Okay okay...that's about it, I can't think of any more.
And here's another "observation", I can't decide if its an advantage or not. I'm still overtaking 9 out of 10 bikes/cars on the road. I guess it means there's scope to go even slower. Nahiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..... I'm not even sure how long I would be able to carry on all this. Maybe till my bike itself screams one day "Abe aeee...ab chaleaga bhi? Kab tak chalegi teri ye nautanki?"
But for the moment, I'm happy saving a few extra bucks.
