Mysore
Aug 13, 2017 01:26 · 422 words · 2 minutes read
Ever since I started attempting long distances on the cycle which was roughly at the beginning of 2017, I have always looked for out-and-back destinations which
- Have a healthy amount of climb.
- Approachable mileage given my current conditioning.
Given my last outing was an around 200k affair, I wanted to really try myself out this time. The last one had been to the Avalabetta peak in the mid-April scorching heat. An out-and-back Mysore trip sounded like a good and doable challenge. Little was I to know the challenges mother nature was about to throw at me. As has been the norm for the TO part, reaching Mysore was a breezy affair and I was in high spirits about being good on the total time.
The real battle started when heat started to rise. Stops started becoming more frequent. By the time I had reached the 220k mark, my body had started to give up. I decided to a take a break and eat. One big takeaway from all the collective wisdom I have gathered is
Drink before you feel thirsty, eat before you feel hungry.
I was one of those people who would go for long sessions with just a bunch of bananas. But I’ve learnt the hard way that to keep going, one has to be on top of their nutrition and hydration.
Coming back to the Mysore story, only when I had begun thinking that it was too much my body could handle weather abruptly changed course and it started raining cats and dogs in a matter of minutes. Deciding whether to break or keep going wasn’t a tough one. I had lost a couple of hours due to heat and my aching muscles. This was a good opportunity to make up for all of that. This was one of the times I was glad I always keep my rain-cover with me. Riding a couple of hours in the rain was refreshing and by the time I started entering the outskirts of Bangalore, it was late evening. That exhilaration of almost reaching home was just sinking in when the quintessential Bangalore traffic greeted me with open arms. Navigating traffic is something I do on a daily basis and that is the only reason I believe I was able to reach home by myself eventually. A long day of cycling had come to an end and I could not help but think where would the next adventure take me…