Every now and then, we all need a break. So, we thought a quick getaway to the Neemrana Fort with this dynamic duo – the Triumph Street Triple and Speed Triple – would be just the thing to recharge our batteries. How do you beat the Monday morning blues, and keep your mood upbeat – especially when cloudy weather keeps threatening to wash away your plans? Well, the good news was that it wasn’t another mundane Monday for us. Far from it actually, as we had two awesome reasons that made it easy for us to get out of bed at the crack of dawn, gear up, and hit the road. I must confess that we were pretty high on adrenaline, because we had this power packed duo – the Triumph Street Triple and Speed Triple – to contend with. And, as much as we would have liked to paint a Monday into a Friday, we couldn’t get away from the fact that this was just the beginning of the week. On top of that, we only had one day to enjoy this joyride – uh, work assignment I mean! 
Even though we had ridden these beauties before, we still couldn’t help but pause and admire them. The craftsmanship of these machines is on a different level altogether – even Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo would have applauded their design I’m sure. I decided to ride the Street first as I wanted to see just how this mid-range bike handled in city traffic – while my colleague, Divyanshu, was only too happy to ride the litre-class Speed. Now, just 120 kilometres stood between us and our destination – the 15th century Neemrana fort. It was the perfect one-day getaway. But, unfortunately, we found out the hard way that more than worrying about looming showers, traffic would be our nemesis. No matter how early you leave, Hero Honda Chowk on a weekday, just outside Gurgaon, will bring traffic to a grinding halt – another reason why we should have made this a weekend getaway! From IFFCO Chowk to Hero Honda Chowk – a distance of barely 10 kilometres – will take you at least half-an-hour in rush hour traffic. 
Luckily for me, though, the Street Triple was easy to ride – and, because it’s light, I could weave through traffic (safely, of course) and get out of tight situations. Its turning radius is exceptional, to say the least, and its 188 kilograms never really weighs on you. The bigger Speed Triple, on the other hand, never ceases to amaze us – as it, also, happily snaked its way through the traffic. Sure, it does weigh over 200 kilograms and is harder to manage – but it was never really a hindrance. The only thing that goes against this 1,050cc motor is its height – at least for those of us below 6-feet tall. But, still, both the Triples easily meandered their way through the gridlock. After a lot of cursing and dodging cars, National Highway 8 finally opened up and both Divyanshu and I twisted the throttles to let the Triumph duo truly own the road. With 125bhp, Divyanshu zipped past me – waving past. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I was dead sure he was smiling from ear-to-ear. Who wouldn’t be? But the Street is no slouch either. With 78bhp, the 675cc engine might not be able to match the Street’s acceleration, but it closed the gap quickly and was soon right behind its big brother. We certainly made the most of the open straight roads, but we had to keep an eye out for camouflaged potholes and sudden dips. And just when we were getting used to whispering with the wind, the heavens opened – and, before we knew it, the drizzle turned into a heavy downpour. Now it wasn’t just a race against time to reach the Neemrana Fort, but also against the clouds. It was time to push this dynamic duo, and they both obliged happily as we gave the photographer’s car the slip. I think the weather Gods were impressed by the Street and the Speed, because the skies began to clear up. 
As we were now way ahead of our photographer, we decided to make a quick pit stop and wait. No sooner had we stopped that many bikers and passers-by slowed down to take photos of these bikes. Both the Triumphs had bright blue paint jobs, and they looked so rugged and muscular that a gentleman parked his car and asked us, “Are you guys testing the two-wheel version of the Transformer Bumblebee?” Now if that’s not a compliment then I don’t know what is! After explaining to him that there bikes are very much on sale in our market, we assured him that we had no idea whether Michael Bay was planning to get Megan Fox back into the franchise. Thankfully, just then, the camera car arrived and we politely said goodbye to our curious new friends and resumed our ride. We soon got off the Delhi-Jaipur highway, and took a detour to Neemrana village. A dusty broken road welcomed us, as we headed to the hill where the fort is situated. The village is like any other, with bad roads, unruly traffic, and a lot of inquisitive eyes. We finally reached the top of the hill, and it was quite an imposing sight with the fort towering above us. 
This fort was built in 1464, and was home to the descendent of Prithviraj Chauhan – who were forced to flee Delhi in 1192, after being defeated by Muhammed Ghori. Once a ruin, its grandeur returned in 1987 when the renovation work was completed. In 1991, the fort opened its gates as a luxury heritage hotel with all the modern comforts one can think of. The fort overlooks the village of Neemrana, and is beautifully nestled on a small hill. But what was a sight to see were the two Triumphs trotting their way through the Fort’s lobby, and all the way up to its rooftop cafe-cum-restaurant. The expressions of both the hotel guests and staff were worth capturing, as they saw the Speed and Street whiz past them and climb the steep path without a fuss. We beat the rain, bore the humidity, and reached the Neemrana Fort to watch the sunset and let our steeds – the Speed Triple and Street Triple – pose and flex their muscles. As expected, we had to patiently wait for everyone to finish taking their selfies with the Triumphs before we could put our feet up and sip a refreshing lemonade, or two, while watching these beautiful bikes glisten in the rays of the setting sun. 
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