[Red Liner]

Heat Map of India



My route

Date of Departure: May 11 2022
This was what I was going to ride through on the KTM 390 Adventure all the way from Bangalore to Himachal and beyond.

It was a cool and cloudy morning on the 11th of May 2022. Thankfully because of Cyclone Asani and the totally unseasonal rains and climatic conditions that Bangalore was witnessing through the month of May.

My destination was Hyderabad for the night, because of the ring road being banned for motorcyclists. There was no way in hell I was going to ride through the hell called Hyderabad at noon to get out of the city. Plus my sweet spot for long distance day riding is about 500-600 kms on Indian highways. My plan was to stop and hook up at a hotel near Shamshabad adjacent to the Hyderabad airport and then make a quick early exit the next morning.

As I was riding that morning on the Bangalore Hyderabad highway, I faced huge gusts of wind blowing across. The wind was so intense that I was finding it difficult to keep the bike steady on the road. At one point a bill board the size of a grown man blew across the highway and made a beeline right across to me - hit my feet and continued its journey. I reckon that could have been far more dangerous had it hit me right across my body. The ride could have ended quite miserably right there and then.

A little further on I "decided" to stop for breakfast. I will tell you why I decided.

I usually do not stop for food when riding long days with a fixed destination for the night. I carry black coffee with me and only stop for water and pee breaks. I have been able to condition both mind and body to go without food for longish durations. In fact, I feel more energetic and alert without food than after food.

But today I felt I could be a wee bit generous with myself and stopped at this non descriptive pop up food stall by the highway well after the Kia factory.

I don't have a picture of the Vadas, but oh my god, trust me when I say it was the most crispiest golden hued doughnut I had ever eaten in my life.

Somewhere enroute to Hyderabad, Asani struck well and good. The clouds gathered and it poured. My luck, I had my raincoat buried under all my luggage strapped onto the bike. So there we went, stopped at a bus shelter with the locals and I proceeded to get the rain jacket out. Shortly thereafter it started to hail as well, and everyone ran out on to the roads to collect ice that fell from the sky.

I reached Hyderabad well before sun down, which is how I like my rides to end and found the hotel. Ofcourse the exteriors and the approach was nothing like what was pictured on booking.com, but once inside the rooms were good, and the bathrooms were clean. Since I had a hearty breakfast of one Masala Dosa, and one Vada, I decided to skip both lunch and dinner to get to sleep early and wake up before dawn the next morning.

We were off to Nagpur.

[Red Liner]

Even the ride through the outskirts of Hyderabad the previous evening was nothing short of a nightmare. This was a message I sent a motorcyclist friend from Hyderabad who counselled me against riding through the city the previous day.

Leaving the hotel was easy, and so was leaving Hyderabad first thing in the morning. Tonights destination was Nagpur, and I had booked myself into a Treebo hotel - at the entry point to Nagpur pretty close to the highway. Quick entry and a quick exit were top of mind for me.

Once I left Hyderabad, the weather turned. It turned from wet, windy, cloudy to hot, harsh and blimey. So the following then became my new ride schedule.

6 AM leave
Ride until 12 noon. Cover at least 350+ kms out of 500kms in this session.
Stop at a Dhaba between 12 noon and 15.00/16.00
Ride out the next 150+ kms
End ride and check in by 17.30

My breaks were automated for every hour almost on the dot. I would stop to down a full litre of water, and do the wet tee shirt trick. Drown the tee in the water tank that accompanies every dhaba where truckers take a bath. Wear tee without squeezing water out. Start riding immediately and enjoy air conditioned comfort for the next 10 minutes.

I also completely avoided solid food through the day. My meals were multiple plates of fresh Dahi everywhere I stopped along with the bottle of water.

Though I was riding solo, friends were made everywhere.

As I rode into Nagpur, I made a mistake of taking the big flyover on entry with the metro line that runs above it. Once I crossed my intended turn which was now under the flyover, I realised my folly, and rode around back to the hotel. No biggie, the Treebo was absolutely fantastic - and a real treat after a hard day of riding.

The thing with riding solo is you go the whole day without talking to anyone for the most part. Humans are social animals, and however much I deem myself to be an INFJ (or introvert for short), I still like to connect and talk to people in and around the places I travel to.

So at the Treebo hotel, I had plenty of time for long chats with the manager.

I had been scouting for good deals for hotels online as I traveled on this journey, simply because I was traveling alone. And traveling alone can get frightfully expensive with respect to room rent alone. Obviously the Oyo deals that popped up were too good to be true, and I actually even booked some of them - luckily for me all of them came with free cancelation right upto check in time.

As I read the reviews both on the Oyo platform as well as on Google, something odd struck me. Almost all the reviewers either had "local" sounding names, or the reviews were one liners with a 5 star rating, or they generally went like "we were a couple and we had a good time". This sent alarm bells ringing in my head, and I promptly veered to the conservative side and canceled all of them.

This is what the Treebo manager told me. Oyo is apparently the only chain which allows unmarried couples to check in. As we all know, most hotels in India do not allow this on principle. Now, considering Oyos budget nature, it doesn't take einstein to figure out that every teenager with throbbing hormones is taking advantage of this and checking into an Oyo in their town for a good time.

Here's where things get interesting. These "couples" apparently only use the room for a few hours - the folks at home are not going to be suspicious if you go missing for a part of the day - but if you're gone overnight then shit hits the fan. So they book for the night, use it for a few hours and leave. The hotel does NOT change the sheets nor sanitise the space. They simply dust off the bed, rearrange things and are good to go for the night.

A few guys I met the next day had similar experiences to share with me. These guys were riding from Tamil Nadu to Leh, and had booked at Oyo like most unsuspecting folks. On arrival, their check ins were canceled, and they were asked to pay 500-1000 bucks more over the Oyo rate if they wanted the room. This is also apparently very common practice.

This information is like gold for a traveler like me. Now I no longer spend any time on the Oyo app - unless its some form of a higher ranked Town House in a major city. Ofcourse, if you're paying 1500-2000 a night anyway, plenty of other better options exist today.

The Apart Hotel was in a residential neighbourhood. Since I hadn't eaten for the day, I treated myself to a swiggy delivered dinner from Haldirams which was absolute Yum. Then I took a walk around the neighbourhood, got some mangoes from a neighbour, treated her kids to some chocolate in return, got some biscuits for a mama dog and her litter of puppies, and played around with Momo, the resident pup of the hotel. It rained a little that evening, and the weather cooled down significantly. But not enough to keep my washed clothes wet. They were dry in a matter of an hour. I was reusing the same clothes every day of the ride - just a wash that evening, and good to go the next morning.

All this was accomplished that evening, after riding 500+ kms in abject heat, and I generally had a well rounded day - as opposed to riding like an idiot and crashing into a hotel room only to do the same thing again the next day.

[Red Liner]

Todays ride was slightly a biggie. A little over 600+ kms and I will need to do the 12-4 break in between as well. My target was to cross Sagar by 12 noon, and then the rest of the journey should be alright.

The day started well and early, and within no time I was out on the highway. A cold shower at 5 am helped me "wake up", and the very comfortable bed last night ensured I was well rested.

I had stopped for a short break by the highway, under some hard to find shade, and I saw a Himalayan fly past me with luggage and aplomb. Of course, the bike flew because I was standing still. The rider waved and I figured I will catch up with him upfront. Now I knew I wasn't the only moron to be out riding on the highway during the worst heat wave we have probably ever experienced in living memory.

I caught up with them on the next halt by the side of River Narmada.

So I met with the boys who had waved out to me. TN plates, which meant they were riding from Tamil Nadu. And all the way to their dream destination which was Leh. Good lord!

They opened up a drone and were keen on flying it over the Narmada. Unfortunately they flew it too far and lost contact with it. A few local boys on bikes came up and made small talk. I told them we had lost our drone and if they could help us finding it. I sent off the whole bunch to find the drone, while I stayed back with the bikes. The bikes were my 390 Adventure, a Himalayan, and a Honda Unicorn. I found shade by a truck parked on the bridge and started counting the very slow minutes going by, whilst jealously watching people below enjoying a glorious swim in the river.

So the drone was stuck on a tree, but unfortunately nobody knew which tree it was on. On closer inspection of the last photograph via the drone, we noticed it was a mango tree, and we identified which branch it was on. The locals were given 500 bucks or so to climb the tree and retrieve the drone. Once back, we started riding towards Sagar.

Interesting riding day this was turning out to be so far.

We stopped by a restaurant because it was getting frightfully hot - pretty sure real feel was around 55c at least with the hot wind blowing right against us. It was like riding through a furnace. Dust storms were par for the course as well.

A few more such stops where I taught them the trick of no solid food, only dahi + fresh lime sodas, and the wet tee shirt hack - helped us make a beeline towards Jhansi and beyond.

As we continued riding, I found something obstructing my foot repeatedly when I tried to shift gears on the fly. I looked down quickly as I was riding and horror of horrors my the entire sole of my TCX adventure boot had given way! The heat was so much that the gum had completely given up. Now I had one more thing to fix somewhere along the way. This was obviously the only boot on me, and the sole was hanging by the edge of its life. I mumbled a few prayers to the gods to keep my boots intact until I reached Jhansi at least.

I was halting at Jhansi for the night and these boys came up with an ingenious plan of riding all the way to Agra which was another few hours of riding. Eventually they reached Agra well after midnight. Sadly, they had booked rooms and made payments for two nights at Agra, else they were quite happy to have stopped with me at Jhansi.

So we said our goodbyes at the toll before entering Jhansi, where we split.

I had booked myself into a farmstead off Jhansi as opposed to staying in some stupid hotel again. I called the owner and he gave me a shortcut, which had a good off-road section. I started off and before I knew it I had entered a forest. My connection with him on the phone was breaking and just as I entered the jungle, I spotted a wild jackal running right across me. The host said I was on the wrong route - he had apparently screamed into the phone NOT to enter the jungle, while I promptly did. I turned around, day light was wearing out, but within the next 10 minutes I had found the farmstead. The excitement never stops.

The room was large, airy, clean, and spacious. Had a very British era feel to it. I fell in bed almost immediately after dinner. No air conditioning, just a blower, but I had the windows opened at night, and the materials used in construction was such that things got cool surprisingly soon.

I had asked the caretaker if the boots could be fixed, but it was too late to do anything now. I could find a cobbler along the way the next morning - on my way out of Jhansi, and I could have the whole thing stitched.

The next morning I was up by 5 am, and I had packed, into my riding gear, torn boots, and I was off out of Jhansi. About 10 kms away from the Farmstead, I started having this gnawing feeling inside me. I was tired, the heat was killing me, and wasn't this some kind of holiday? Why the hell am I pushing myself so much? I hadn't even looked around the farm, and they even had a swimming pool which I hadn't seen yet. A swimming pool!

That did it. I stopped by the road just at the exit of Jhansi. I had made an Airbnb reservation at Noida just an hour earlier, and I was able to talk to the host and have it rescheduled. I quickly called the farmstead host at Jhansi and requested him to extend my stay. But you already checked out right? What the hell is going on? I'm sorry, but I really want to stay another night and I am heading back to your place. Sure, by all means you're welcome.

I turned the bike back, and on the way I spotted a cobbler just opening shop for the day. I had ridden about a 100 meters ahead and I turned around, deciding to get things done then and there. He had spotted me riding up and welcomed me with open arms once I showed him the boots that needed fixing.

While our cobbler friend was busy with his work (500 bucks to stitch both the boots up - and I do NOT negotiate with such vendors), I noticed a great deal of commotion next to me. It was a sweet shop doing roaring business for breakfast, and I wore the cobblers slippers to place my order at the counter.

Boots happy, cobbler happy, me happy.

I took the same route to head back to the farmstead, and this was by road and no off-road. I was now at a situation where I didn't really give a damn about the off-road, I just wanted to get to the pool as quickly as I could.

The road was through an army camp, and even though I had ridden out through the camp, riding in was not allowed and I was told to get the hell out. So I took another off-road route again, but this was alright, just a bit sandy and I was back at the farm in no time.

The caretaker was beyond shocked to see me back, but understood my plight quickly, and proceeded to prep breakfast while I undressed as quickly as I could to go to my office.

Yes, the office was FANTASTIC. Just what the doctor ordered. I spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon in the pool. The pool was watered by the borewell, and I was sitting under the pipe for a good part of the time just soaking in all the relaxation and breathing out all the stress of having ridden this far.

Now was time to explore the farm and make new friends.

Brunch done - which was Poha, Dahi, and some other embellishments - and I was off to bed to chill. I don't sleep afternoons on principle, and so it was just doodling on the phone and reading, and catching up on WhatsApp.

The farmstead owner came over to see me as well, and we had a wonderful time chatting like long lost friends over many cans of you know what. I heard his story of how he FIREd and started the farm full time, and what his future plans were. Wonderful, I loved making new friends along the way on this journey called life, and it felt very wholesome. I was thankful for having listened to my gut feel and intuition to turn back and made no apologies of it to myself.

At about half past 5, it was time to get to the office again.



The night arrived late, and it was beautiful day well spent with new friends and now family.

[Red Liner]

The next morning I felt completely rested, no fatigue and ready to attack the day of riding.

As I was riding out of Jhansi - AGAIN - I came up to a cyclist with a whole load of luggage and banners. I always make it a point to halt and talk to such travellers, its the least one can do on a journey like this.

He was riding for the Save the Soil movement, and was cycling all the way from Coimbatore and had now reached Jhansi, same as me. He was already some 50 days on the road in abject heat.

Now it was time to fill some fuel.

The pump failed miserably mid way. The heat at 7 am was a bit too much apparently. The situation was mental. I felt mental.

Todays journey was from Jhansi to Noida. 420 kms through Agra, I could relax a bit, but ofcourse the day unfolded quite differently.

Somewhere before Agra, I spotted a sign which said Left to Delhi. So I took the left and about 30 kms down I had that same gnawing feeling in my stomach again. I took out my phone, opened maps and yep, I was no where close to the Yamuna expressway - for which I should have taken the right instead of the left. I put on maps, turned the bike around, because I did not want to ride through Mathura thank you. I met a friendly chap on the road on just getting off the highway, who rode along with me to guide me through the arterial roads that make the outskirts of Agra. I stopped further along again to get fresh directions to hit the ring road, and suddenly I was out on to the Yamuna Expressway.

By now it was frightfully hot - how many times have I used that term already - and I was keen on finding air conditioned comfort for the next few hours. Found a restaurant after paying the toll fee, and I collapsed into a table and 4 chairs by a wheezing air conditioner, pushed to its limits.

There were more motorcyclists now on the road to Leh, and I met a few boys from MP who I got to know well enough to not be acquaintances any more.

I had informed my host, a family man in Noida, that I would be late because I was on a motorcycle and wanted to sit out the heat. He was quite aghast that I was riding down in the heat wave, and waved my apologies away.

The ride to Noida was flat and easy. What greeted me were massive concrete structures of glass and steel. I felt insignificant and not in a good way.

The apartment - where my host stays - was a city in itself. I think I had ridden a km just inside the complex to his block. This was getting a bit much for me.

I was warmly welcomed home - because thats what it was. I had now exited hotel stays and had more personal interactions with family rather than staff. The room was clean, minimal, and bathroom was well equipped. A quick shower later, and the host helped me order dinner of Garlic Naans and Dal Makhani - some abject craving that just cropped up - and showered me with Dahi he had in the fridge.

We had a lovely chat whilst waiting for my dinner delivery, and got to know each other. Dinner done, I paid my respects to the princess of the house before getting into bed in an air conditioned room.

[Red Liner]

I was up before the family could say tally ho the next morning and I was out riding towards Chail, my destination for the night.

I would be riding through Paaji land, Sat Sri Akal, and my favourite - Wahe Guru!

As I was nearing Chandigarh, I spotted a big group of cyclists. Again I stopped and waved them down. These kids were riding from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

I was certainly no longer the only moron on the road, no sir.

I stopped further on and treated myself to a few helpings of Lassi.



I was now 6 days into this trip. Wonder how long it would have taken on this little streetster.

The day had started cool and cloudy and I was relishing the ride. But just around the afternoon, the sun crept out of where he was hiding and beat down mercilessly on all and sundry. I took cover under an abandoned Airtel pop up store.

Now I was getting tired again, and I decided to stop at a huge food court kind of thing on the highway - and this highway was littered with them. I bounced in, had a bunch of lassis, and then moved into another restaurant where the only thing I could afford was this mushroom pie of 160 bucks. A water bottle was 110 bucks, more expensive than a litre of petrol. A sign of things to come I suppose.

I spent more than a few hours here. Almost half the damn day. I spent my time quietly observing all the well to do, rich folks of way above average means make their stops, and order courses of food, and walking away leaving behind half finished bottles of 110 buck water bottles.

The evening was setting in, and I decided it was time to hit the road again. I rode out around Chandigarh, and the weather turned again. Huge gusts of wind made their appearance and I was struggling to keep the motorcycle on the road. Moments later, it started showering, but this time I did not pull my rain jacket out. Instead I enjoyed the fresh fall of rain from the mountains of Himachal. Jut like that I had forgotten all about the heat wave that had accompanied me the past week. Such is the frailty of human memory.

With some guidance from the host, I reached Chail, had din din with her grandma, and called it a night.

The next morning at 4 am was a sight to behold. I had made it a point of waking up every morning at 4 am on this ride, that I was automatically up to grace this view.

The ride didn't end here. But this log certainly does. Thanks for joining me. And don't ever ride out in a heat wave.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[RaviKBobba]

Loved reading every bit of it. Hope you are having a good time. Keep updating this post.
One question though - How are you surviving without solid foods during the ride days ? Care to share some tips ��
Surprised to see so many cyclists doing a ride all the way from South to North.
Appreciate their guts & determination for doing such a long trip, during the heat wave.

[ninjatalli]

Excellent log. Agree completely with the food options (no solids) when riding. I am increasingly appreciating the benefits of lemon soda on hot days - be it biking or cycling. However I never tried plain curd though, used to go for buttermilk or lassi; will keep that in mind next time.

Looking forward to hearing/reading about the next leg (in HP and/or return trip).

[ShivrajG]

Excellent thread and pictures. riding this time of the year wouldve been challenging.

I was in Lucknow for a week and my work mostly consisted being outside in the Sun. The heat is unbearable and it make you sweat profusely. After a certain limit you stop sweating, you just start feeling the pain in the body and exhaustion. The heat wave is a killer.

Once I was back in Pune I found Pune to be extremely pleasant as compared and forgot how Pune too has changed its colors.

I hope people reading this would take precautionary measures while riding in such conditions.

[Ikran]

Riding in a heatwave certainly takes toll on you. What I envy is the opportunity and the determination to complete the ride.

You have penned this experience really well. Happy and safe riding...!!!

[Sen]

Lovely travelogue so far. You have a great writing style and personality, thanks for sharing!

Stay and ride safe.

[pd1108]

Lovely travelogue, but certainly not for the faint hearted. Enjoy the cools of Himachal before you hit the plains on your return. I guess your bike has behaved admirably as there is hardly any mention of your companion. Be safe

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by RaviKBobba

Loved reading every bit of it. Hope you are having a good time. Keep updating this post.
One question though - How are you surviving without solid foods during the ride days ? Care to share some tips ��
Surprised to see so many cyclists doing a ride all the way from South to North.
Appreciate their guts & determination for doing such a long trip, during the heat wave.

Regular practice of Intermittent fasting whilst at home has helped a great deal. I just extend the duration with the help of dahi, lime sodas, and water.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Excellent log. Agree completely with the food options (no solids) when riding. I am increasingly appreciating the benefits of lemon soda on hot days - be it biking or cycling. However I never tried plain curd though, used to go for buttermilk or lassi; will keep that in mind next time.

Looking forward to hearing/reading about the next leg (in HP and/or return trip).

I forgot to mention that all my lime sodas were only salt and no sugar. My sugar intake is either zero or in the form of snicker bars if I get extraordinarily hungry. No chai etc.

[tharian]

Wow.. Hats off to you for riding solo that distance in the heat wave and the determination.

I avoid rides in the summer, but last month I did something impromptu and realized I better stick to planned rides as that is when I got a taste of the 40c+ heat on the road.
My wife and kid was heading to Chennai by the early morning train and I had planned on a day ride towards Hogenakkal and instead ended up surprising them in Chennai.

Thankfully, I had mixed Electral in my Camelbak and carried some snicker bars and I guess that is what saved the day for me.

Curious to know how the bike performed on the trip. On my Interceptor, my inner thighs were roast every time the ambient temperature was high.

[Rshreyansh]

Beautiful write-up, loved every bit of it. Crisp and engaging at the same time.
The exhaustion from riding in heat is real, but you certainly know when not to push the limits.

Do share some thoughts on how the 390's engine fared throughout the ride. Looking forward to the rest of the travelogue. Ride safe