Anik Mankar sets the USA on FIRE

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Today was our ride through the Flint Hills of Kansas with Anik Mankar. Anik is a VFRD member from Mumbai (Bombay), India. He owns one of the few VFRs (a '98) in India. He is here on business in Topeka. I felt it would be good to organize a ride with him, if possible. The stars aligned and thanks to the generous donations of a few friends things worked out perfectly. Even the weather cooperated. It happens to be range burning season, which made for an interesting ride with smoke and fire surrounding us.




First we met up at Lee 2002's place. From left to right: AnikMankar, Lee 2002, hondalover, huskysooner, motorman.
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Anik commented that he felt like a bride. He would ride a borrowed bike (Lee's), in a borrowed suit and gloves (hondalover's) and a borrowed helmet (Lee's neighbor, Daniel). A big thanks to everyone who pitched in, especially Lee's old boss Jeff who lent his '07 650 Ninja to the cause for Lee to ride. We couldn't find the right size boots to borrow.... so we went out and Anik bought some just for the ride. So the boots are his.



At a gather-n-rest stop in Alma, Kansas. Along the way we gained a rider who we'll call "F3Nelson." We exchanged e-mail addresses so we can hook up again. F3Nelson left the ride early. We beeped our horns as we went back by his house... wonder if he heard us?
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Next time I head out I'll try to drop you a line, F3Nelson.




Here we are at a one room school house for Waubunsee County School District #2 built in 1906.http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2416/4509885026_588152d311_b.jpg
Anik struggled a little with the typical Kansas spring winds. They can be a little disconcerting if you have never experienced them before. That's OK... we just took it easy. Anik says ---- "You should try riding amongst 18 million people!"


Here we are in front of a typical Flint Hills Kansas Ranch.
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Scorched Earth. This is what the area looks like after range burning. In about a week and a half this ground will be covered with the most luscious green grass you have ever seen. The purpose of the burning is to is to kill any weeds that have already germinated, kill any trees that have sprouted in the last year and return minerals and nutrients to the soil for the soon-to-sprout grass.
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During the daytime you smell smoke but you never see the flames. All you see is black ground, everywhere.



huskysooner, AnikMankar (on Lee 2002's VFR) , and Lee 2002's borrowed 650 Ninja
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hondalover & motorman
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In front of the Lutheran Church in Alta Vista, Kansas. AnikMankar kept refering to these small towns as "Ghost Towns". Actually they are very active, healthy towns. He's just used to 18,000,000 people, like in his home town of Mumbai (Bombay), which I am sure never sleeps. "Where is everybody?", he kept asking.
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After dinner AnikMankar, hondalover, huskysooner & motorman strike a menacing pose in downtown Alma, Kansas. The real wild west!
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hondalover, huskysooner, motorman, Lee's ride, and AnikMankar at the cattle pens. The sunset was pretty from the smoke and ash in the air, but unfortunately the camera did not really pick up the colors.
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At one point hondalover and huskysooner swapped bikes.... So the only person on their own bike was motorman. We should have called this the "Borrowed Bike Meet".


Here we run across some range burning in progress. After dark, range burining is really something spectacular to see. Especially when it is off on the horizon in the distance. We were really lucky to get perfect weather and to get to see some burning in progress. There were other places where we could see the fires on the horizon. But we really couldn't stop for a decent photo.
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In the flames. hondalover, huskysooner, AnikMankar, and motorman get right in amongst the flames. Sorry for the slightly blurry photo. It was really quite dark by this point and the shutter on the camera had to remain open for a long time. With the flash on the flames weren't really visible enough. Someone commented it was like being in a Civil War photo after I asked them to stand really still. Should have brought my small tripod. Damn!
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AnikMankar travelled over 8,370 miles to attend this VFRD meet. Has anyone ever travelled that far for a meet before? I didn't think so.
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Now I think we need to start a contest for the longest distance travelled for a VFRD Meet. I think it will be hard to beat Anik's record. He's from the other side of the Earth!

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Here's your ICON:

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Thanks to the local guys for coming on in for the ride and accomodating the "Stately Pace".

Guys - this was really a great ride - except for those cross winds. But eventually got hang of it. Thanks Lee, Dave (x2) and Mike.

This is just before we left,

Lee 2002, AnikMankar, hondalover(Mike), huskysooner(Dave), motorman(Dave)
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Another one
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Lee kept taking pictures, so i took one with him in it.
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Good thing i had a timer on the camera so we could all get in a picture. Had to run really hard to get back.
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No ride is complete without some good foods.
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Really nice meeting you all guys.
and Thanks once again.

Great Pics and ride report....I also wondered where all the people where at in Kansas...
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Excellent report and great effort by all to get the ride organised.

Too bad we all couldn't be there. :wheel:

Glad you guys could organize something for Anik. :fing02:



My physiotherapist is from India, does that help? :laughing6-hehe:

Good job!

Wish I could have been there, looks like a great time.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/public/style_images/light/snapback.png' alt='View Post' />Lee 2002, on 11 April 2010 - 06:52 AM, said:

Who farted?
Did Anik prepare a nice and spicey curry before the ride. :laugh:

what a great ride report! Very unusual with all that fire going on - makes for some very dramatic photos.

[image: View Post]vfr_steve, on 11 April 2010 - 07:18 PM, said:

Very unusual with all that fire going on - makes for some very dramatic photos.


The fires are very normal for this time of year around here. They are purposely set and mimic the natural fires lit by lightning before recorded history. The fires are an important part of maintaining the native grasses and keeping the open range from being taken over by trees.

They are very pretty to watch after the sun sets.

Great write-up and pictures, Lee. For some reason, I never take as many as I intend to. I'm thrilled we could give Anik the authentic central KS experience, crosswinds included :).

I can't resist posting a slightly different version of what you used at the top of the thread. I was standing right next to you when I took the picture, and I guess the exposure was shorter. It was quite dark by that time:
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[image: View Post]huskysooner, on 12 April 2010 - 07:43 AM, said:

Great write-up and pictures, Lee. For some reason, I never take as many as I intend to. I'm thrilled we could give Anik the authentic central KS experience, crosswinds included :).

I can't resist posting a slightly different version of what you used at the top of the thread. I was standing right next to you when I took the picture, and I guess the exposure was shorter. It was quite dark by that time:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2413/4513274802_81a90192d9_o.jpg

Hi Dave,

This is a great picture. Not as blurry.

[image: View Post]AnikMankar, on 11 April 2010 - 10:10 PM, said:

This is a great picture. Not as blurry.

And it is also more representative of how dark it actually was at that time and how the fires really appear at night. Really something spectacular to see from a distance.

My buddy Pat just told me the whole county is really on fire tonight.

Nice ride and story. Now, Anik, your company needs to send you up in the great white north, on the west coast (Vancouver), so you get to experience another interesting place. We, too, have places where there is no one. :)
Nice work organizing this ride guys.
C

There was a motorcyclist killed on a stretch of road that we were on the day after our ride. Smoke "might" have been a contributing factor based on inital reports.

http://cjonline.com/..._in_cycle_crash

Nice of you guys to put out all the effort for a fellow VFRDr. Great report and pics. Thanks for posting. :fing02:




Okay, so who really started the fire? :goofy:

More highway shenanigans in Kansas...awesome, Lee! :beer: Hope you guys were able to show Anik at least one abandoned missile silo.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/public/style_images/light/snapback.png' alt='View Post' />dendron, on 12 April 2010 - 09:38 AM, said:

More highway shenanigans in Kansas...awesome, Lee!

"Shenanigans".... I like that.


No missile silos on this ride..... just grain silos.

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This morning's headline:

Smoke from Kansas prompts health warning in Lancaster County

Weather experts are calling the number of grass fires in the Flint Hills of Kansas and surrounding areas incredible...........

http://journalstar.c...1cc4c03286.html


Sounds like you guys had a great ride!

[image: View Post]panamawing, on 13 April 2010 - 09:38 AM, said:

This morning's headline:

Smoke from Kansas prompts health warning in Lancaster County

Weather experts are calling the number of grass fires in the Flint Hills of Kansas and surrounding areas incredible..........

It was a good ride.

Yeah, for whatever reason the fires have really garnered a lot of attention this year. There is one group calling for the abandoning of the practice of burning ranges. It's been going on for millenia (started by lightning, originally), but now it's some kind of environmental concern.

From the article:

Quote

Some smoke also is coming from Nebraska fires, he said.

Can't blame it all on us.

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journalstar.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/3/ca/6d8/3ca6d834-4689-11df-84e4-001cc4c002e0.image.jpg?_dc=1271114109

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/public/style_images/light/snapback.png' alt='View Post' />Lee 2002, on 13 April 2010 - 05:29 PM, said:

Wow! I'm way out of date I guess. When did Illinois & Indiana merge?

This was one of the coolest rides I've been on with the fires. Next year I might have to get an airborne view of it.

[image: View Post]hondalover, on 13 April 2010 - 07:34 PM, said:

This was one of the coolest rides I've been on with the fires.


Now that is some pretty high praise.

[image: View Post]hondalover, on 13 April 2010 - 07:34 PM, said:

Wow! I'm way out of date I guess. When did Illinois & Indiana merge?
And it looks like Illianda is dissolving the Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio borders, too!

[image: View Post]hondalover, on 13 April 2010 - 07:34 PM, said:

This was one of the coolest rides I've been on with the fires. Next year I might have to get an airborne view of it.
It was very, very cool.

[image: View Post]huskysooner, on 12 April 2010 - 07:43 AM, said:

Great write-up and pictures, Lee. For some reason, I never take as many as I intend to. I'm thrilled we could give Anik the authentic central KS experience, crosswinds included :).

I can't resist posting a slightly different version of what you used at the top of the thread. I was standing right next to you when I took the picture, and I guess the exposure was shorter. It was quite dark by that time:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2413/4513274802_81a90192d9_o.jpg

These X-winds really took me off guard. Took sometime for me to adjust and enjoy the ride :). By the time i got hang of it the ride was over :(. Hope we manage to schedule one more when I back- :goofy: