Free Souls Riders Expedition to Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary

Free Souls Riders is a group of bike riders based in New Delhi. Today, I participated in a bike ride organised by Free Souls Riders from India Gate to Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary in Haryana. It was a breakfast ride to Sultanpur National Park, which is about 45 kms from India Gate. There was two meeting points for the ride, first was the India Gate at 05:30 AM and second was the Ambience Mall Near Toll Plaza in Gurgaon at 06:15 AM. As I live at Mahipalpur near toll plaza, I decided to reach at Ambience Mall by 06:00 AM.

It was a nice morning today with a clear sky and cool breeze. I reached Ambience Mall at 05:45 AM. Two riders were already waiting there. With the passing minutes, numbers of riders were increasing from 3 to 5 to 10 to 20…and so on. By 06:45 AM, there were around 30 riders, but the rest of the team which was supposed to join us from India Gate was nowhere and this was the first bad experience of this group. A group should always respect the time of each and every members. Three impatient riders left this ride by 06:45 AM and went on their own.

Anyway, around 07:10 AM, first sign of fellow riders was there, as the group from India Gate started reaching there. There was a problem with the bike of a rider, so before moving further they wanted to park it in the parking of Ambience Mall. This caused further delay. Meanwhile there were many group passed in front of us, who were on the exploration on this Sunday, And then there arrived the league of superbikes…Harley-Davidson, Triumph, Hayabusa…everyone was there. For few moments we forgot about the delay in our departure and clicked some pictures of the superbikes with their riders. They were on the ride up to Rewari and suddenly NH-8 became vibrant with the roar of those monster machines. And the interesting thing is that, when I returned back to home after the ride, I read an interesting article in The Hindustan Times about The G.O.D.S. (Group of Delhi Superbikers) and its founder Dr. Arun Theraja.

Anyhow, we started our ride from Ambience Mall around 07:20 AM. It was a 2 by 2 formation of bike riders guided by some team leaders and guide-marshals. The bikes in the group included Royal Enfields, Honda CBRs, Yamaha FZ-S, Bajaj Avengers, Bajaj Pulsars, TVS RTRs, Yamaha Rx 15s etc, but 75% of the bikes there were mighty Bulls. The average speed of the team was 50 kmph. It was a perfect view for the other people to watch so many bikes on the road together in a disciplined manner. Lot of people clicked pictures; many asked questions, everybody was just curious.

After the ride of 45-50 minutes, we reached at Sultanpur National Park and suddenly this Bird Sanctuary turned into the Bikers Sanctuary. Wherever you looked, there was a biker with his bike. We clicked some group pictures and then went for the breakfast. The cost of the breakfast buffet was Rs. 150 per person and it included Puri, Sabzi (Veg.), Sandwich, Cutlet and Egg-Omelettes. Cold drinks and beers were also available on the extra payment. Everybody enjoyed the breakfast and took a light musical break with the performance of a guitarist.

After musical break, people went for some bike riding competition. There were two competitions:
First one was slow moving bike competition, in which every rider was supposed to ride his bike in a dedicated lane for 50 meters and the one who came last without touching his feet on the ground would be the winner. The competition held in four categories: 100-200 cc bikes, 200-350 cc bikes, 500 cc bikes and bullets only. Then the winners of each category again met for the ultimate champion.

Second competition was to make an 8-shaped curve in a designated space without touching his feet on the ground.

After the second competition, as group enjoyed their gathering, I went to explore the national park. But, the workers there told me that the lake inside the park is dry and there was no sign of birds, so the park gates were closed. I did not find any bird except an Owl, 2-3 Parrots and some Common Myna inside the park.

People started leaving that place in small groups. Some people enjoyed their stay in separate groups. When 6-7 riders wanted to come back to Delhi around 11.00 AM, I also joined them and reached back to my place around 12.00 in the noon. Overall, it was a very good experience riding with the Free Souls Riders and since it was my first ride, I enjoyed it a lot. I am looking forward for more rides.