Date: March, 02, 2019
Gandikota is called as ‘Grand
Canyon of India’ and has a magnetic attraction on anyone who sees its images.. The nickname to the place is apt and is at
pretty close distance from Bangalore for a day trip. Plus, this trip was more
about enduring the heat of early summer and Gandikota being a dry-hot place,
the trip had its own challenges. The second section of this blog is about the
preparedness I had done for the summer ride.
Started the ride at 5.30AM from
Electronics City and headed towards Bangalore airport to exit out of the city
via the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway. The morning traffic was less and ride was smooth.
Crossed Nandi Upachar but did not stop, thinking that I will stop later, was
not much hungry then.. But, that was the last restaurant on the stretch (did
not know this, as this was my first ride on this road).. So, I continued
further… Then after some time saw signs of the new KIA factory some 25kms away
and thought that atleast some roadside place should be there around the
factory… And, my hunch was right with a solitary place serving hot dosa and
poori.. Needless to say, ordered dosa
and munched on it hungrily.. Alas, the place did not serve tea.. but okay,
stomach was filled up well.
 |
| Huuuugggeee factory of KIA ! |
Then took deviation from highway
and moved towards Tadipatri and from then on towards Gandikota.. This stretch
was bit bad, but the surrounding were beautiful with water from Penna river on
both sides of the road.. Lot of cultivation was done by using the river water
and since this area was a dry place, saw lots of usage of drip irrigation for
fields.
Finally, reached Gandikota and
behold the sight…
The place has only 1 hotel for
stay, run by Andhra Tourism, Haritha Hotel. The hotel has a restaurant that
serves lunch for outsiders as well and had Andhra meals with lots of curd to
cool the body down. After gulping down lots of water started back on a
different route towards Bangalore.
The return route was through
Kadiri and the ride was through completely barren land.. There were stretches
where both sides were just rocks and a solitary road winding through them.. You
would have seen such roads in old western Hollywood movies.. Truly sublime..
The roads till highway were
devoid of any trees and till Bangalore, the ride was through hot scorching sun…
Finally reached Bangalore after multiple stops and took outer ring road back
home..
Rang the bell to my house at
6.30pm!
Things that helped for the summer
ride, most of must-haves now.
Hydration & Temperature
Control:
The most important thing was to
remain hydrated at all times. The heat with dry wind sucks out the water from
the body in more than one ways and it is important to replenish the lost water.
Less water leads to increase in body temperature and this can be very
hazardous.
First, is the clothing.. I
ensured that no part of my body was exposed. My clothing consisted of
- Inner anti-wick full sleeve running t-shirt. (Kalenji from Decathlon serves the purpose). This does an amazing job in soaking up the sweat and allowing it to evaporate, thereby reducing the body temperature
- A mesh t-shirt on top of the anti-wick t-shirt
- Mesh jacket, this is important to allow as much air to flow over the body.
- Mesh riding pant
- Riding boots, GoreTex built, this is a breathable material allowing sweat to evaporate
- Riding gloves
- Balaclava to cover my head, nose, front face, front and back neck (only my eyes are visible)
- Sun glasses for the eyes.
- Helmet
- Sun-screen, apply on your hands, face and legs
 |
| Be wary of the sun power... ! |
From top to bottom, I was clothed
with material that allowed for easy evaporation, thereby cooling the body. The
idea should not be to stop evaporation; in fact, one should enable evaporation
and keep drinking lot of water to compensate.
Towards hydration, I was carrying
CamelBak pack and was able to sip water every 30mins or so.. Plus, installed 2
bottle holders on either side on the crash guard. Both these bottles had
Gatorade filled water in them.. I also carried Gatorade powder for re-filling.
By the time I reached Gandikota,
I had run through both my bottles and Camelbak. Refilled again at the hotel
with 3 bottles of water and these were over by the time I reached home.
One cannot underrate the usage of
sun-glasses, since the riding helmets do not have sun visor and with the sun
being up for most of the time, eyes get tired very soon without sun-glasses.
Balaclava is a must, else the
back of your neck would be exposed to sun and you would get severe sun burn.
With sweat, our body loses
sugar/salt and to replenish this, I was carrying nutrition bars.. I had 4-5
bars for the day. Much useful.
Even with as much preparation as
possible, around 3pm, my head started feeling bit dizzy and I had to stop and
have a high dose of Gatorade mix. Some water on my head cooled me down and was
okay thereon.
