When one door closes, another one opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.
- Alexander Graham Bell
Day 2: Tirupati to Vijayawada
Distance: 410 KM
Start: 8AM
End: 8PM
Road Quality: Mostly 4/6lane highway in very good condition.
Duration: Typically takes around 7.5 hours riding + breaks
The roads always reminded me that I am in Andhra. Not because
of anything else but the tasty aroma of Idli, Sambar, Dosa and Chutney :D. I
love the sambar here in Andhra. The roadside small hotels were not letting me
control the urge of having a bite. Though my diet was different post the covid
infection, I could not stop myself from stopping at a counter. Thinking “Chalo
yaar, Itne dino baad mauka mila hai, pehle kha lete hain”. Nutritionist say
that it takes 90 days to build a diet habit and just one day to destroy it all.
I am going to board the same plane. Ask me how? Because, after having breakfast
it felt like “Moksh mil gaya chutney chat ke” and I am gonna have more
of these in the coming days. For those who don’t like this kind of breakfast
eat aloo paratha and paneer. Wohin swarg he aapka. (No offence)
The highway from Tirupati to Vijayawada is very well
maintained. Although the initial few kilometers were not so broad, its not bad
at all. On the highway, plugin your music and ride on and on and on till you
find the need of a break. On a long ride, its highly recommended to take break
and do stretching religiously. Taking sufficient fluid in regular intervals to
keep the body hydrated helps you ride long without cramps. If you are a rider,
you already know the weight of the safety gears that we wear and being in the same
riding posture for hours may not go well with everyone. Stretching and breaks
are must. I personally prefer coconut water on the way to hydrate. This electrolyte
is low on calories and carbs. Making it much better than a sports drink which
mostly are loaded with sugar.
In one such stall, just before Nellore, I stopped to find a lone
kid being the coconut vendor. Talking to him revealed that he helps his parents
on weekends and is studying in standard 7. Felt good to know that but then the
conversation took a different direction when he asked which phone I have in my
hand. He knows about the iPhone 13 pro max and he wanted that to play some
games which I had never heard of. I won’t shake my head saying “kids these days
…” rather I question “technology these days..” and shake my head. His father
dint buy him a phone while his friends have, so he wanted to buy it of his own.
The conversation went as funny as you can imagine with my broken Telegu and his
broken Hindi. Finally, I told him, by the time you buy it you might get the
hands on to iPhone 20 super pro super max abc xyz. Good luck kid! He laughed
and I took off.
Soon after, there came the crave of Andhra meals. On the way
before 25 km of Ongle, you will find hotel V grand next to an HP petrol bunk. There
are many such restaurants on the way, but I got in here because it was recommended
by someone. The food is tasty, and service is good as well. The next beautiful view
came in just after Ongle at an elevated place when I saw the clouds pouring over
a region. Hardly you find a chance to witness such moments. It was raining next
to me but not on me and I wished I don’t want to face it again today. Let it be
a dry day :D
The evening was well spent chilling @The Rush Café Guntur
with a friend, who recently moved to Guntur from Bangalore. This is probably
the best one in Guntur and the evening there was peaceful. Just the time for
sunset and the sky went crazy. Look at that picture and honestly, I haven’t edited
anything on it. Are Sach me :D, God Promise!!!
Heard, Vijayawada to Rajahmundry route isn’t that good. And the
effect of cycle was going to be felt from Vijayawada. This time, I tried to do
a better weather research by talking to locals as well. Most of the shops and stalls
on the highways were removed and there was warning from the patrolling police
as well. So decided to stop at Vijayawada. It, being one of the big cities in
Andhra, I had a lot of option to stay. That wasn’t my worry anyway but the news
of Cyclone Gulab badly hitting Andhra was. By that time my plan of reaching Rajahmundry
on the same day was already shattered. Rain started at Vijayawada just after me
checking into my accommodation. Just like on the sky, there were clouds on my
thoughts as well. A lot of uncertainty, on how damaging this cyclone will be. Even
if it was announced that its not going to be severe, I wasn’t sure what the
condition of the roads will be. Majorly, open areas get spoiled easily by such
cyclone and roadblocks are common with trees falling on the road. I was looking
at the Google Maps frequently. It was showing the constant warning of cycle
effected road. The projected commute time started increasing hour by hour and at
one point of time the ride time was projected as 8 hours till Rajahmundry. That’s
enough to unsettle you through out the night. A rider’s dilemma. Trust your gut
feeling and go ahead or surrender. Don’t dare to take it to your ego in such
situations. Its time for more research. Well searching in Google is not
research it’s just collection of information. And that’s what I did. The more
the information, the more the analysis. The more the analysis the better the plan
to conquer. Day 3 dint become easy, but I was well informed of the difficulties.
You might have heard of weather.com or acuweather.com. Do
check out the weather-forecast.com if you haven’t yet. Most accurate local
weather forecast even on local areas. It’s proven on the next day ride.
Day 3: Vijayawada to Rajahmundry
Distance: 160 KM
Start: 6AM
End: 11AM
Road Quality: Mostly 4/6lane highway with numerous roadblocks,
potholes and diversion
Duration: should take around 3 hours on good road but took 5
hours due to weather condition
Unlike the last night, I found a much better accommodation
but not enough to get sweet dreams. But, at least, I could wake up early and
get ready by 4am. Came out of the room to find the flooded roads in front of the
hotel. Damn!!! I thought its going to start raining again in Vijayawada after
6AM. But the weather does not follow our time. I recalled the weather forecast
site. Ahh, its all the same. I murmured. With a heavy heart, heavier than my
baggage, went back to room. And sat on the bed for some time. Then got up after
some time from the bed and started walking in the room, walking on the corridor
of the hotel walking to the empty reception as if it’s chaos. But no, I was not
waiting for the rain to stop. I was trying hard to take the decision of starting
the ride. If you have ever survived a cyclone, you already know what it feels
like. Of course, you might have seen the videos on news media and relate to it
up to some extent, but you can never reach that heartbeat if you haven’t seen
trees flying over the road.
Gathering all the courage I had and being informed that the
wind speed till my destination is not going to uproot trees or roofs around, I
decided to start my ride. With in the city, although heavy pours, I saw a
decent traffic movement. That helped. That really helped to uphold the
confidence. The roads were flooded. Just like the roads of Bangalore after a 5
min shower. And, how can you forget the secret potholes hiding under water?
This is majorly because Vijayawada is undergoing infrastructural change with flyovers
being constructed at Benz Circle. Accessing many facilities around that area is
quite a task. Google maps fails. I tired. The level of water was almost touching my
shoes. May be 180mm of depth (Avenger has a ground clearance of 165mm). Somehow
my ride managed to swim through the temporary river on the road. I wanted to
capture this, but my camera wasn’t mounted. I was a little hesitant to put it
on.
Things started looking more difficult when I came out of
city and was on the highway. It was the side wind I must face. Though expected,
it wasn’t easy to keep the momentum. If you don’t know what side wind is, it’s basically
the wind flow that hits the rider perpendicular to its direction of movement. On road, it is categorized to be of 3 types,
head wind, tail wind and side wind. Head wind will slow you down and exhausting.
Tail wind is like your birthday wish coming true. It pushes you further from
back and increase your speed with very less effort. For cyclists it becomes a
joy ride if they get tail wind on their way. My personal best is 86kmph on a
downhill with tail wind. While that wind pushed the speedometer of my bicycle, the
one currently I am facing is trying to throw me out of my saddle. I stopped at
a place and readjusted all my mounts. Finally, the GoPro was out as well. It’s
proven to be robust, but I wanted to test it in my way on the highway. How stupid
was that. Check out some clicks and reels.
The roads were almost empty. Only few cars and few heavily loaded
trucks. They weren’t friendly either. All I was doing is eating their spray
when they zap pass me. Yeah, I was that damn slow, but I was good. No stops on
the way today. There wasn’t any place to stop. As announced the day before by
the patrolling police, all eateries and food joints were closed on the highway.
May be around 20 km before Rajahmundry, it stopped raining. The sky was getting
clear (in the process of getting blue again). Today, my so-called waterproof,
rain proof, xyz proof, Royal Enfield riding shoes gave up. If my feet weren’t inside
the shoes, it could have easily turned into a high ankle designer aquarium. (I
will review that separately). I sopped in NH16, swapped my shoes and gloves with
the dry one (that’s ride preparation) and cruised again. It was relaxing. Music
was back. Stopped sharing my live location to friend and family. I coved 160 KM.
It was okey with me. At least some part of the total distance was covered. An workday
was saved. It was time to check in to a cozy hotel with good Wi-Fi bandwidth
and work from home hotel. Oh, If you were thinking I was on leave for
this ride, No I wasn’t.
The weather report, as predicted on local areas were bang on
point. Experienced the projected precipitation from Elluru to Kovvur. It was around 11am when I entered the city of
Rajahmundry. Found a reasonably good stay on the first walk-in itself and didn’t
bother to search more. Vijaya Residency it is. I mentioned this because I found
it to be much better than the last 2 stays. Big and clean rooms with almost all
amenities except swimming pool. For swimming, Godavari was just 50 meters.
Visit during summer and jump into the flowing river. Did I mention riding over
the great Godavari? I was confused if I should take the 4th bridge,
also known as the Arch Bridge or the usual bridge to get into the city. The
beautiful Arch Bridge was intimidating to ride on but was adding few more miles
to the city. I parked the idea and took the other option to reach early. If you
stay, there for a day or two, it’s a must visit. Do try to take ferry to the
small islands within the riverbed. I happen to stop on the other bridge to click
some photos of this famous architecture. Remember the movie Godavari? And
the songs “Andamga Lenaa”? As if the river was poking the same to me. Tune
in if you haven’t yet. If you don’t like such songs, it’s absolutely Okey. There
is more to read 😊
While the weather destroyed my original plan and broke my journey
in to pieces (It was supposed to be a continuous one with fewer stoppages), it
also gave me an option to save on few “corporate leave balance” and try out my
new strategic travel plan. Ride & Work.
I will talk about it but It’s time for the “Work from Hotel”
break. Catch you later…
Read The Ride Begins
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