NASA and Royal Enfield in Conjunction

conjunction

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
/kənˈʤʌŋkʃn/

▶noun

• 1 Grammar a word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause (e.g. and, if).

• 2 an instance of two or more events occurring at the same point in time or space.
  ■ Astronomy & Astrology an alignment of two planets so that they appear to be in the same place in the sky.

This second definition was our mission on Saturday as four of us Bulleteers in Madrid took out our bikes and rode into the mountains to see a curious alignment of old and new.
Our group was the traditional three (Pedro, Juanma and yours truly) with a new addition: Guillermo was taking his newly acquired and repaired Indian Bullet 500cc (2004) out on its maiden voyage on the roads. Both he and the bike did swimmingly, a pleasure to ride with them.


Winding curvy back roads, well paved and seldom traveled by cars took us through forests of Mediterranean pines and groves of encinas (holm oaks) under a gorgeous blue early summer sky. 

When these cyclists showed up, they too wanted in on the conjunction:

We decided to celebrate this scientific event by having a vermouth up at the Cruz Verde, a major biker bar on a mountaintop near Madrid. The Royal Enfield Bullets got plenty of well deserved attention, as usual!
This is Guillermo's Bullet:

 And here's Pedro's classic:

we were all home by lunchtime as planned, ready to face the week ahead and looking forward to the next trip.