Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Day 2 - Hyderabad to Nagpur; riding into the night



Riding at night can be amazing; quiet dark roads, the hum of the engine, and the brisk night air. It's tranquil, magical even -- until you run out of road.

I was settled in. We were cruising along at 100 and would go long stretches without seeing another vehicle. It was so peaceful it was almost therapeutic. Then the rains came.  Then that beautiful blacktop disintegrated in a heartbeat to a pot-filled gravel and dirt road, if you can call it a road. And barreling head on at us were trucks with their high beams on, blinding us.

Sure, I know what you're thinking, flash them the high low beams, and they'll turn off their highs. Think again; they won't. Why not? Because they don't give a f*ck. You'd think a farm tractor who wants to turn onto or cross the road your on would wait the minute or two it would take for you to pass instead of blocking your path causing your to brake hard. There was no one else on the road, why wouldn't they wait the minute. Because they don't give a f*ck. You flying down a two lane when suddenly a bus is in your lane as he is passing another vehicle, causing you to ride the shoulder. When he sees you wouldn't he get back in his lane? Of course not, why, you guess it. He doesn't give a f*ck.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We got into Hyderabad mid-evening the night before, so we had a good nights rest. And we needed it, because we had only gotten 2 1/2 hours sleep the night before.

Yet I woke the next morning with every muscle aching, and my first thought was "what the hell did you get yourself into. That faded quick, as I've never been one to back away from a challenge, and I wasn't going to start now.


We're not your typical riders who wake early and hit the road by 6:AM. We're digital nomads, which means we have to get online and work every day or every other. So we checked out, packed up the bikes, and stopped at a cafe to do some work.

We left out mid-afternoon and I was happy to get out of there. I've often talked about the horrible driving in Bangalore, but Hyderabad makes them look like driving rock stars. As we following the main road under the metro, it was 3 lanes that had 5 lanes of chaos; and people playing the human version of frog-er aimlessly wandered across seemingly unconcerned -- they would just hold up a hand as though the traffic would obey. What a madhouse.If you'd even ridden on the back of my bike you'd begin to realize how insane these people drive for me to say what I did.

Once out of the city the rain came we traveled through sections where the road was littered with cows and/or buffalo. During the day it's not a big deal. It's a sight, but not a problem. At night it's a different matter because you can't see them until you're right on top of them. 

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