RiderMania ’16: Celebrating the Biking Spirit in the Sands of Goa

Royal Enfield’s annual biking festival RiderMania was a mix of dirt, art and racing spirit. Read this for the scoop.

Royal Enfield RiderMania 2016 was apparently the biggest one ever. (Photo: Royal Enfield)

Last week Goa witnessed one of the biggest gatherings of Royal Enfield (RE) riders and aficionados. RiderMania 2016, held in Goa, was attended by around 6,000 people this year. And it was heart-thumpingly good. We were there to see and feel the noise. Here are the highlights.

Because biking is equal parts passion and art. (Photo: Royal Enfield)

Beautiful weather in Goa and you get one of these to ride? We got a RE Himalayan to shuttle between our accommodation and the venue.

Royalty on wheels. (Photo: Aaqib Raza Khan/TheQuint)

Well, the day’s almost made right? But only if you can bear the heat of the engine around your thighs and weight of the bike to push around.

Selfie while biking is a ‘Himalayan’ task. (Photo: Aaqib Raza Khan/TheQuint)

We managed somehow. Sigh! What we have to endure for the job. Right?

The three-day event saw a variety of activities, such as dirt track racing, which was a competition of maneuverability and speed in both novice and expert categories.

Get set go. (Photo: Royal Enfield)

Not everybody was an expert though.

There was a Himalayan special category too.

Rolling on the steep. (Photo: Royal Enfield)

There were custom bikes exhibited by renowned groups – Bull City Customs, Buraq Motorcycles, XLNC Customs, In line3 Customs, Wheel Vedas Customs and Bulleteer Customs. And they were head-turners in all aspects. Sample these.

Can you recognise them? (Photo: Royal Enfield)

This custom by Wheel Vedas got a lot of attention and curious glances. (Photo: Aaqib Raza Khan/TheQuint)

Talk about being blue-blooded. (Photo: Aaqib Raza Khan/TheQuint)

The modern vintage. (Photo: Royal Enfield)

The Long Distance Riders Forum at RiderMania hosted prominent Indian riders, Kedarnath GM, author of ‘Dream to Ride Around the World’, Srinivas Chamarthy and Vishvesh Mehta.

Kedarnath GM told The Quint that he rode for 18,000 kilometres, covering 13 countries on his bike, just because he wanted to ‘test his limits’ and see ‘how far can he go’. “People ridiculed my dream and told me it’s not possible. Next up I wish to travel around the world on my bike,” said Kedarnath.

Kedarnath GM on his long-distance biking tour of 13 countries (Photo: Kedarnath GM)

Kedarnath is an engineer by profession, so we curiously quizzed him on how he will manage his job if he goes riding across the globe? “I will resign. Nothing is more important to me,” Kedar told us with a satisfied grin.

The festival was lit by evening performances, which helped the audience unwind after a long day of facing the wind on two wheels. The artist line-up included Nucleya, Papon and bands such as Sapta and Parvaaz.

Nucleya on the stage, belting out hits such as Bass Rani, Bhayanak Atma (Photo: Royal Enfield)

Outside the venue, it was another sight altogether. One could only see Royal Enfields, of all shapes and sizes. The evening was too early too call it a day perhaps.

Thumper thumper everywhere, not a beat to miss (Photo: Aaqib Raza Khan/TheQuint)

And we eventually rode into the sunset, away from the sand, until next year.

The illuminated console of RE Himalayan (Photo: Aaqib Raza Khan/TheQuint)

Have you also been to Goa or went biking anywhere? Share your experience in the comments below.