Getting High, And How?! | Time Warp

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10

Day 6 – 21 June 2012 | Part 2

Yellow-billed Choughs hurriedly hopped all around us; pecking on the crumbs we dropped while eating. It certainly looked like they were more excited in eating than we were! Even after our rather long lunch break, we did not really feel like leaving the place. We just fooled around the place for some more time – applying another layer of sunscreen, lip balm and stuff! I guess each of us was making reasons to spend some more time by the lake. Eventually though, we did get back on the road and continue our ascent.

One hairpin turn later, the lake was out of our view. Another couple of long sweeping turns after, things started changing drastically. We soon passed a seemingly deserted army settlement that separated two entire different worlds. The tarmac was long gone by now and we found ourselves back riding on a gravel track. The road had caved in at many places, unable to bear the weight of the heavily loaded trucks that ply by. Little stones spread across the entire place, like grains of sand on a beach. In a distance we could see the mountains disintegrating – the source for the stones over which we were now riding. It looked like giant ants marching out of their anthill just froze in time. Come to think of it, these mighty mountains would soon be reduced to tiny bits in the years to come.

The scorching sun over our heads was now playing with our minds. Multiple mirages appeared in all directions. The heat reflecting off the earth made everything to dance in synchrony – except that; there was no music being played. Absolutely everything we set our eyes upon fluttered; some violently – and yet, there was no wind. The entire place felt very eerie.

After about a gruelling hour or so of riding, all along, trying to look for any shade, we just decided to stop out in the sun itself. The only cover we had was that provided by the hood on our riding helmets. It was only when we stopped we realised that HT and Gurudeep were far behind us. So far, that we could not even see them. After a while though, craning, we saw their shaky images slowly crawling into sight. From here it looked like they would just evaporate into the atmosphere. It was quite evident that HT was struggling to keep pace with us.

Anyhow, once regrouped, hydrated, and our sippers filled to the brim, we got back to our. And almost immediately the group split all over again – this time Ramya too, falling behind with HT. Chandramouly, Akshay, Mizan and I kept pedalling steadily – matching each other’s pace. The odometer on Akshay’s bike kept rolling down the numbers, and soon enough, there was not much left to be covered. We took little breaks after riding out for about half an hour or so, but we did not wait for the trailers to catch up. After all, we knew the backup jeep trailed them.

Just when we had about enough of the bumpy track, we rode by a construction site. And right about then, things changed dramatically – this time for the better. The freshly laid road was not the only thing that had improved. The entire landscape was a lot greener and brighter. I would have preferred the gradient to have gotten a little better too, but alas, the climb just never seemed to get over at all.

Since none of us were taking extended breaks, I made it a point to get off the road and take a little breather, each time there was anything that provided whatsoever relief from the sun. Sometimes, it meant lying beside a mould of mud, rising up just a few feet from the ground!

As we continued our journey north, the sun headed further west. Before long, it was masked behind many tall mountains, casting even taller shadows. This, surely, was a huge relief for us. With the wheels rolling, we soon passed a milestone that announced that Zing Zing Bar was just another five kilometres away. On any other day, seeing such a sign would have motivated me to push harder and get it done with. But instead, I chose to stop. The long hours of endless climbing had sure taken a toll on my knees. My left knee was beginning to hurt and I knew it was not a good sign. After stretching a little, I got back on the road, this time after switching down another gear.

The weather was fairly pleasant, tilting ever so slightly towards being a little cold, when we finally made it to Zing Zing Bar. Oddly, we could not find our camp, nor did the place look suitable to camp. There was quite a bit of construction equipment parked beside a few military buildings. Unsure of whether we had to move ahead, we decided to wait out until the others and our backup jeep arrived. We found a spot behind one of the trucks and settled down there, this time, taking cover from the cold wind that was picking up. After about half an hour of waiting and still no sign of the trailers, we knocked on one of the doors there.

The GREF personnel welcomed us inside their warm room and even offered us hot tea. While checking with them about a probable location of a camp site, they told us they knew of a spot, some ten kilometres further ahead! Ha, now that is something that jolted us! None of seemed ready to do that! Just about then, looking out of the window, we saw our backup jeep drive by. We rushed out and waved at them to stop. Ramya and HT were now in the jeep, with their bikes atop it. The remainder of our backup crew, who had driven ahead (to set up our tents) returned to the spot at just about the same time. They had not expected us to take this much time. They told us that we had another 8 kilometres to go before we would halt for the day. So the GREF guys were right after all. We bade them goodbye, and hopped on our bikes, after first pulling out the jacket from the backup jeep.

Now very determined to get over the ordeal, I decided to push it a little bit. So much that, at regular intervals, I stopped by the road to pick up some snow and apply it over my knees to alleviate the pain! Riding past the last few hairpin bends, we finally made it to our camp at about 1800.

We were to be staying at a large shared tent – a dormitory of sorts, instead of setting up our own tents. We parked our bikes outside and quickly got in. We were served hot Maggi just as we entered – which we ate, greedily! The two Frenchmen we had earlier run into had camped in the same place. We spent the evening chatting with them and sharing stories – about rides, places visited, wives and girlfriends! Akshay, who could speak a bit of French, was soon promoted to our translator!

While the sunlight gradually faded away, the temperature dropped. I had intended to take a little walk around the place, but returned to the tent with my teeth chattering! It was coldest I had felt in this trip so far. The girls seemed to be a little unwell and tucked in to their sleeping bags early. Since none of us wasted much time in cleaning ourselves, we were ready for dinner in a jiffy – which also was served early. My appetite was a lot lesser than what it had been so far.

My knee still felt a little sore, so I wrapped the crepe bandage around it before retiring for the night. After all, I wanted them to be in their best condition for what lay in store tomorrow. With restricted movement, I clumsily got into my sleeping bag.

Tomorrow, we would make it across our second pass – Baralacha La, of which, I have many fond memories!

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Getting High, And How?! | Please Blow Horn

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9

Day 6 – 21 June 2012 | Part 1

I was awakened even before the alarm went off. Oddly, I could not sleep very well last night. Perhaps, I missed my sleeping bag! As I idly got off the bed, I discovered that my left wrist ached a bit. I must have hurt it during the downhill ride over rough terrain yesterday. That reminded me that I should ask Virender to take a look at the dysfunctional shock absorbers on my bike.

It was truly remarkable that the entire group was up at more or less the same time. I guess each of us were quite enthusiastic about the ride. As we made our way downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast, we realised that our bikes too had been already washed. I really wished they had not – you see, the dirt on it reminds us of the moments that got them there! And yeah, it also makes it look a little macho!

We headed back to our rooms upstairs after breakfast and quickly packed up. All geared up, as I stepped out of the room with my luggage, I saw Gurudeep and Virender attending to the bikes. The drive chains now required to be oiled, post the wash. Added to that of course, were the many little things that needed to be mended or fine tuned. Gurudeep had ridden the better part of yesterday without functioning rear brakes, and was keen on fixing it today. On the whole, it was about 0930 by the time we finally set out.

Our destination for the day was Zing Zing Bar, some 30 odd kilometres away. We would have to climb close to 1000 metres in that distance though. Having lost a little too much time in the morning, we were keen on making up for lost time. Well, I did make a stop barely five minutes into the ride to get a picture beside a milestone, but after that, we guys rode quite hard. The road was freshly laid, and we almost glided over it with little effort.

That is until we arrived at Darcha. The tarmac now gave away to gravel and we were descending towards an old bridge that barely stretched itself across a dirty brown river. The carriageway consisted of planks of wood laid one beside another, and looking at it, I picked up some speed – just to hear the bridge rattle! In less than one hundred metres, we had to get across another wooden bridge. This time though, I kept my speed in check, because the bridge was that wobbly! Beyond this was a rather tall mountain, which had to be scaled in just two hairpin bends! I remembered this stretch very clearly from my previous ride – back then, when I was descending, I felt like I was going down a slide! This time, I had to get up it, and I did not even have a motor!

The road was barely wide enough to let a truck pass through and we had to occasionally stop to let the vehicles pass. The road, having been swept clean by the tyres only in two narrow patches meant that each time a vehicle got off this line to get past us, or avoid running into us, it kicked up a ton of dust all over us. Added to this, the sun was now glaring down on with great fury. We had made it to the first bend and turned around to get to the second.

As always, Chandramouly led us there and was opening up quite a gap over us too. Halfway there though, he stopped to have a chat with an old man. As Akshay and I approached them, we stopped for a brief chat. We learnt that he was a cowherd who had brought his cattle to graze on whatever little vegetation that was there. The heat from the sun was making it difficult to continue a conversation, so I told the man that I would ride ahead and find some shade. He told me that I would not find a single tree ahead! Looking around, I had no reason not to believe him, but I bade him goodbye anyway and got back on the bike.

A little ahead, almost at the second hairpin bend, I did find a tree, though most of its leaves were missing. Perhaps, they were eaten by an overly ambitious goat! It offered very little shade, but for the moment, it was good enough. We waited there for the rest of the team to arrive. The old cowherd soon reached the spot. He noticed the tree and said that this was perhaps the only tree that existed in the area! Anyhow, after a little discussion on inventing a portable urinal, we got back on the road! (HT, if you are reading this, I hope you remember our patent discussion!)

The road was still in shambles as we kept getting higher. We had to keep a constant watch on the road, while twisting and turning, while we chose a path with the least bit of undulations. I do not know what it was with the vehicles that were behind us to honk so much at us. At one instant, I was so annoyed I almost asked the taxi driver if there was a board on the back of my t-shirt that read – Please Blow Horn!

The group slowly started to split up as we rode on. By now, you would know who had already cleared the horizon. Mizan, Akshay and I, more or less stayed together, while Ramya and HT formed the tail, with motivation provided by Gurudeep! After about an hour of riding, we got to see tarmac again. And with it, the climb too now turned to a descent. Though it was tempting to just duck down a bit and speed along, we decided to stop at the first spot that offered us any kind of shade. Like the old man had said, there was no tree in sight. After looking about a little bit, we found a spot – a mountain that was carved to make way for the road. There was a good chance that a rock could dislodge and fall over us, but at the moment, that prospect seemed better than getting fried under the sun! Ramya joined us in another five minutes, and we sat there and chatted. A lot of bikers passed us as we waited for HT and Gurudeep. Most of them were too proud to give us thumbs up! Sarcastically, I gave them one! Anyhow, after waiting for over half an hour HT and Gurudeep joined us. It certainly looked like HT was struggling a bit.

After a little refreshment, regrouped, minus Chandramouly that is, we rode ahead. In less than ten minutes, we ran into Chandramouly. He was sitting beside the road, because a stream was flowing across it! As we were debating if we should walk across, pushing our bikes alongside; or ride across – I handed over my camera to Gurudeep and did the latter! The water current was strong enough to push the bike laterally as I rode across. Ha, this was the coolest thing I had ever done riding a bike – yet! Soon, the rest of the guys rode across one by one. After getting a few pictures, we carried on. In the next hour, there were several more water crossings. But now having gathered some stream crossing experience, the time we spent determining the best path across kept decreasing! The excitement, on the other hand, was only headed the other direction!

We stopped for lunch beside a small lake – Deepak Tal. The water was so clean that we could see all the way to the bed! In a distance, I noticed a little waterfall that fed to the lake. And on the other end, the lake overflowed into the road. I was surprised that we guys had missed this lake completely during our previous ride! I was still in awe looking at the lake, while the others started with lunch. I soon joined them – feasting on a burger, boiled eggs, peaches and other fresh and dried fruits.

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Getting High, And How?! | Sweet Tooth

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8

Day 5 – 20 June 2012 | Part 2

The gravel track we were on seemed like it would never end – it just went on and on. It had gotten so hot by now that the heat was reflecting off the ground beneath us. The gradient was still only gradual, but the heat was taxing us a heavily – slowing us down. And the views, well, we thought it was getting monotonous and we were not particularly interested in it any more.

Occasionally, we came across a lone tree that offered a little shade from the scorching sun above. We made sure we took a little break each time. For the rest of the time, wherever possible, we swayed across the width of the road, choosing a path that offered any respite from the sun. At times, we had to ride along for quite some distance before we found any shade. And at times, the patch of shade was so little that not more than two could get cover.

I am not really sure how long it had been, but after what seemed like eternity the gravel beneath us gave way to freshly laid tarmac – which was a huge relief. The sun, though, was not relenting at all. So, we continued the trend of taking a break every time we had any kind of shade.

Mizan and Chandramouly though were still maintaining a good pace, and soon rode into the horizon and out of sight. The rest of us – HT, Gurudeep, Akshay, Ramya and I, lazily moved along, making many stops, and clicking even more photographs. It was then we realised that we had covered only about 7 kilometres in about two hours! So we decided to ride a little longer before we made another stop, to have any chance of making it to Jispa by sundown. And that decision helped. As the sun kept moving further west, it hid itself behind the mountains. All of a sudden, the views seemed to get better! The temperature slid down a few notches too, which was all turning out quite well for us.

After an endless climb, we finally started descending towards Jispa. We made one last stop to give away few candies to kids, we ran into at one of the villages. We had been told that it was somewhat a tradition around here for kids to stop travellers and ask for some goodies. I was carrying a pocketful of candies, and the idea was to give away one or two to each kid. But having almost reached our destination, and without really having a prospect of meeting any more kids en route – I gave away the entire stock to the four kids I met! The kids now had their palms full of candies, though they had a very confused look painted on their faces! I was relieved that I would not have to stop for any more kids along! Ha!

Anyhow, at about 1800, we finally rode into Jispa. The place is so small that within a couple of minutes, we found our hotel All in all, it had taken us over four hours to complete the last 23 kilometres, post our stop at Keylong! Chandramouly and Mizan were sitting with the crew, waiting for us to arrive. From the look on their faces, we knew they were wondering what took us such a long time to make it to the place. I guess, we had a closer interaction with the environment than them!

Anyway, this was the only time during the ride that we would be staying at a hotel, with access to a bathroom. So, we had to make the most of it – meaning, we had to get a shower! We parked our bikes, picked up our luggage and carried them to our hotel rooms. I was quite impressed with the room – it had a clean bathroom and electricity! Well, it also had wooden flooring, a warm bed, cable television and other stuff, but I was not really interested in it! I doubt if any of us were! Immediately, I pulled out a set of clean clothes out from my luggage and hit the shower! The next time I would have this luxury was only once we get to Leh – six days later!

We guys spent a bit of the evening relaxing in the balcony, browsing photographs on our cameras, watching the sunset and just chatting. It had been three extraordinary days. the best thing was, each of us were completing the ride, albeit a little slowly. Our confidence of completing the ride was most certainly quite high!

We headed down to our dining tent after sundown and settled down. Though we stayed at the hotel, we still decided to cook our own food. Having gotten used to the brilliant meals our cook prepared for us, all of us were certain that this was indeed the best choice we could have made! Post dinner, we all got back to a room and chatted some more. With easy access to electricity, Gurudeep copied the videos from his chest-mounted camera to the computer, and we relived some of the memories of the previous three days.

Well, it had been a long day of cycling, and most of us were quite tired. Just as I decided to call it a day and wished the rest of them goodnight, I overheard their plans of smoking hash (which one of us was carrying)! I got back to my room and pushed the alarm I had set, out by a full hour!

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Getting High, And How?! | One Hundred Kilometres

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7

Day 5 – 20 June 2012 | Part 1

I woke up to another cold morning, when my alarm went off at 0600. Having pitched our tents in the woods, there was (fairly) enough privacy for everyone to go about their morning business today!

The two Frenchmen whom we had earlier run into at Marhi had camped not too far from us. One of them came by asked me something in French. At first, I could not decipher what he said, but when he showed me a little piece of paper – a square of about two and half inches each side; I figured he was looking for the toilet! As I asked him to go find a spot somewhere in the woods, I could not help but wonder if he could not have carried a little more paper! I guess he had taken this saving paper thing to an entire different level altogether!

Anyhow, the rest of the guys were up and the place was all abuzz with activity. A very healthy breakfast was served at the dining tent, just as we just finished cleaning up. Meanwhile, Virender attended to our bikes, making small adjustments to the shifters and brakes. Once done with breakfast, we headed back to our sleeping tents to change into our riding gear. Soon, we packed our luggage and were ready to go.

It was just past 0800 when we hopped on our bikes. Just about one hundred metres into our ride, the drive chain Chandramouly’s bike snapped. Crap! It was decided that we guys would ride at a moderate pace without Chandramouly, while the crew would fix the snapped chain link on his bike. We all were certain that Chandramouly would catch up with us in no time!

With that, we continued (rather, started) our ride. The sun was shining bright by now and the weather was quite pleasant – all of which was drastically different compared to the previous time I was here. As I covered some distance, I could hardly recognise any thing around. The only memory I had of this stretch from last year was a dark grey sky, endless rain and the pitter-patter as the rain belted us! This time though, the valley below was lush green and the hills on the other side changed colour as the shadow of the clouds slowly moved across them.

The gradient was a quite forgiving today, which meant that we were taking far fewer breaks than we did yesterday, and the day before. This also meant that we were doing very good time. Having missed the ride yesterday, Akshay was determined to bike for at least half an hour between breaks. I decided to just tag along with him. I was still unsure of how my knee would hold, so had been apprehensive about pushing it hard. Thankfully, my knee, so far, was holding well.

Less than two hours into the ride, I noticed the rear tyre on my bike was severely deflated. It was the second puncture in two days for me now. I guess I was making up for not having a single one in my previous trip to the Himalayas. While we lost a little time fixing that, it also gave Chandramouly time to catch up with us. With Chandramouly having a delayed start, it was Mizan who lead the pack today. And after a couple hours of riding, we realised that Mizan was missing! Well, we knew for certain that he was ahead of us, but we wondered why he did not wait up!

The ride all morning was a lot of fun – perhaps because we were not doing any serious hill climbing. The up slopes were all too gentle and in a distance, we could see that the road ahead was all downhill. It was time to get off the saddle and grip the handlebar tighter as we plummeted down the hill. It was time for some serious mountain biking! In just a bit, I figured the shock absorbers on my bike were stuck. I had no option but to reduce my speed to prevent something from shattering!

Our descent was short-lived as we ran into a roadblock ahead. A construction truck parked on the road, transferring water into a storage tank left no space even for a bicycle to get through. So, we had to wait amongst the other vehicles that were queued up there. Thankfully, I found a rather large dog sleeping in the shade there, and I kept myself entertained trying to converse with him! Anyhow, once the truck went by, it was time to roll down the hill once again. The road deteriorated as we kept getting downhill and the turns were getting a lot tighter. It was getting a lot more fun though, as we all tried to brake as late as possible getting into the turn, so that we could carry that much more speed to the next. In all this excitement, we had barely noticed that the green started fading away into brown.

The landscape now was a lot drier, though we could still see some greenery and snow-capped mountains in the distance. The last stretch as we approached Tandi was scary – a narrow, dusty gravel patch serpentined on one side of a hill, while a dirty brown river flowed steadily beside on the valley below. For our safety, we decided to ride in a single file.

Some three hours into our ride, we finally ran into Mizan! Yes, we got to Tandi too, but finding Mizan seemed more important than getting there! He was standing under the cover of a tree, waiting for us. I guess he finally figured he had ridden far too ahead!  Anyhow, once regrouped, we clicked a few pictures at the fuel station there – the only one you would find until Karu, some 360 kilometres away. We were all quite hungry, but decided to ride up to Tandi Bridge, just about a kilometre ahead and stop at a restaurant there.

Lunch was quite light, in the interest of us being able to get back on our bikes quickly! Well, we were back on the road in less than an hour, and headed towards Keylong. It would be the last big town we would pass through for a very long time. The road from Tandi to Keylong was not particularly good. Small rocks strewn across loose gravel made it quite difficult to keep a steady pace. It also made it difficult to remain seated in the saddle. To add to that, the sun was right overhead and it was a tad too warm to be comfortable. The entire place around was brown and arid.

We took a break just as we got across a creaky old bridge, which I recognised from my last ride here. Back then, it had rained from this spot all the way till Rohtang La, a distance exceeding one hundred kilometres! Ha, that also meant that we had covered over one hundred kilometres! Keylong was just about a couple more kilometres from here.

After getting a few pictures and hydrating, we got back on our bikes and started our slow ascent to Keylong. As we got closer to the town, we rode past the workshop where I had gotten the wobbling handlebar fixed on my motorbike. We stopped a little ahead at a restaurant and called for some soup. While there, we realised that we now had network coverage on our cell phones, so we made a few calls back home. I, though, updated my Facebook status message before I called home!

We spent quite some time at the restaurant. In fact, we were a little reluctant to get back on our bikes and leave. The temperature had gone up considerably and it was uncomfortably hot now. We still had another 23 odd kilometres to get to Jispa. After briefly waiting to let a large herd of sheep pass, we pedalled along - lazily. 

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Getting High, And How?! | First Pass

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6

Day 4 – 19 June 2012

I was still undecided if I must crawl out of the cosy sleeping bag on waking up. I wished I could lie there for some more time, but alas.

Been there, done that tip: When you do not know where the toilet is, it makes a lot of sense to get up early and start looking for it!

As I lazily got out of my tent I saw that Gurudeep was already up. He was busy with his camera, getting many pictures of the scenery around. As I went about looking for a quiet spot, a horse who was grazing there thought it might be interesting to follow me around for a bit.

The rest of the guys were up as the sun made its way out from behind the tall mountains. Breakfast was served at the dining tent. Once done with breakfast, we headed back to our tents and changed into our riding gear. Akshay though, did not feel very good in the morning, and he decided not to bike. Instead he would get a ride in the backup jeep. Today’s destination was Sissu, some 52 kilometres away. We knew well that it would be all downhill once we get to Rohtang, but Rohtang was still about 17 kilometres away, and 620 metres higher than here.

We hopped on our bikes and started our ride at about 0800. The wind was still playing havoc. I had started the ride with the rain gear on, just to get some relief from the wind. But as I got pedalling, I realised it was not practical. In just a bit, I got out of the rain gear and dumped it in the backup jeep.

Like yesterday, Chandramouly lead the pack, with Mizan closely behind him. I kept company with Ramya, while Gurudeep rode alongside HT. The views were getting breathtaking as we got higher. Soon, we were riding across glaciers. Some of these were dirtied by mud and Ramya thought they resembled chocolate! Although I am not very fond of chocolates, I felt like having some at that time!

Somewhere along the way, I recognised the spot where UK, Shoib and I had stopped and celebrated last year, thinking that the ordeal was over. Oh, how wrong we were! That brought back many memories and I was smiling to myself. Thus far, the road still had tarmac and it was hard for me to imagine one could ever fix it from the mess that was last year. There was, however, one little patch where the road looked all familiar to me! There was a land slide and vehicles were lined up one behind another at either side. The Border Roads Organisation guys were working overtime to clear it. With the road all soft and slushy, and marked by dozer tracks, we had to get off our bikes and tug it along for about a hundred odd metres.

Another thing that was drastically different from my previous time here was the amount of snow cover. Everything around was covered in snow. Looking at this, somehow, I thought that the fear of global warming was all a farce!

Anyway, I felt the ride to be a little more tiring than the day before. Maybe it was because of the depleting oxygen level up here. To add to that my left knee was beginning to hurt. I sprayed some pain-relief spray on to it and carried on.

About three hours after we started from Marhi, without really having a track of the distance we had covered, we wondered how much more we had to go. That is when we realised we made it to our first pass – Rohtang La, at 3980 metres! This was the highest I had ever gotten on a bike, and things were only going to get better! After celebrating our conquest, we got back on our bikes.

Oddly, though a board announced that we were at Rohtang La, we found ourselves climbing again! Ah, that was a little disappointing, because I was all set for riding downhill! But in just a bit, after riding through walls of snow, we finally arrived at a spot from where we could see the road sloped down. We regrouped and had a little safety briefing. After all, this was still a highway, and not a track and we had to stay disciplined.

With that, we rolled downhill. As always, Chandramouly started opening the distance as he took the lead. I was still not too confident about the brakes on my bike and had to keep the speed a lot lesser than what I would have preferred. Even then, it was good to have the wind in my hair and plummet downhill. The road was still all tarmac on this side too, which was starkly different from last year. But the rain clouds that were beginning to form above ensured some familiarity remained. And sure enough, ten minutes into our descent, it started to rain.

At a road junction ahead, Chandramouly had stopped, beside an odd shaped rock, taking cover from the rain. The rain was pouring by now, and I joined him beside that rock. Soon enough, the rest of the gang was here. There really was not enough space for everyone to take cover, so we decided to ride along anyway. The road was gradually beginning to deteriorate. There was quite a bit of slush and the mud was too soft to be able to continue riding. We had to get off the bike and tug it alongside for a little while. As bad as it looked, it still was way better than what I had seen last year.

As we got lower, the rain receded and the road got better. Apart from a brief stop at a landslide being cleared, and another one to let a herd of sheep cross the road, we did not really get delayed at any other place. That is until we came across a fairly large stream flowing across the road. Being the first of many we were to encounter, I wanted to take it safe and walked across it, with the bike, of course. I could have been a little more sensible, and taken off my shoes and socks before crossing, and put it back on after getting across. But, I did not do that because I did not want to waste time. With the shoes now soaking wet, I decided I would not repeat it next time!

While I tried to get some water out of my socks by wringing it, Chandramouly and Mizan rode ahead. The rest of the gang were yet to reach the spot. I wondered what was taking them so much time getting downhill! Riding along, I saw Chandramouly and Mizan had stopped beside a shanty.  Well, we had made it to Khoksar. It had taken us about one and half hours from the top to get here – a ride distance of about 21 kilometres, while losing 840 metres. Some half hour later, the rest of the gang were here too.

All of us were quite hungry by now and we decided to have lunch at the place. The sun was shining bright by now, and it felt great basking in it. I knew we would be here for some more time, so I took my shoes and socks off, and let my feet dry. After about a good hour or so, it was time to get back on the road again. Sissu was still about 15 kilometres from here.

A rattling old bridge got us across the river, which would stay with us until we would get to Sissu. The road, more or less, remained at the same elevation, which was a good thing because I was feeling very lazy after lunch, and finding it hard to keep pace with the rest of the group. There were a couple of stream crossings, but they were neither too deep, nor too furious. Apart from this, it was smooth sailing all along – until I felt my bike wobble as I picked up a little speed at a long sweeping down slope. On inspection, I found the rear tyre was punctured.

Damn! I flagged down Gurudeep as he arrived and we waited for the backup jeep. As we pulled out the tools, we figured it would be easier to switch bikes (as Akshay was not riding) than fix the puncture. And that is what we did. On changing the bike, I instantly felt better.  Perhaps it was the deflated tyre that was slowing me down, and not the heavy lunch!

We made it to Sissu at about 1630. Our camp site for today was located amidst the woods, and not too far from the river! Ah, it could not have gotten any better than this! Our tents were already set up when we arrived. We parked our bikes and moved our luggage to the tents. This time, we also had a bath tent set up, which meant we guys could clean up a bit. The girls were certainly more excited about this than the rest of us!

We walked about the place a bit and settled beside the river for awhile. But as the cook was making a nice snack for us, we soon got back in the dining tent. The whole ride today was a lot more relaxed than it was yesterday. This meant that most of us had quite a bit of energy left to celebrate! We whiled away our time cracking jokes, and playing a round of Uno, until dinner arrived. A long day of cycling meant each of us had a heavy dinner. I guessed if I kept eating as much every day, I would come back home with a few extra kilos!

Once done with dinner, we guys settled back to our tents fairly quickly. It was only about 2130 when I tucked myself into the sleeping bag. I wished I could keep the tent open and look up at the starry sky for awhile. But with quite a few insects crawling outside, it would not have been very wise. So, I zipped the tent close and settled in. In no time, I fell asleep.

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Getting High, And How?! | Shooting Star

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5

Day 3 – 18 June 2012 | Part 2

The temperature further plummeted as the rain continued. While Chandramouly and I took cover under a tree, I was reminded of the previous time I was headed to Rohtang La. I only wished it would not rain as hard, or as long as it had rained that time. The trailing pack caught up with us. They confirmed that the backup jeep was not behind us, which meant it had gone ahead. While we were undecided if we should continue waiting here for the rain to subside, Gurudeep decided to race ahead and find the jeep. He also asked us to ride ahead at a slow pace to keep things moving.

The rain had turned into a light drizzle now, so we got back to pedalling once again. In a little while, Gurudeep returned – with the backup jeep following him. We quickly located a spot beside the road that seemed to offer just enough cover from the rain. We parked our bikes, took our rain gear from the jeep, and ran for cover! Waiting under the trees, we had chocolate bars, biscuits and some orange juice. We would have liked to wait until the rain had stopped, but we could not. Once done with our snack, we got back on our bikes. We planned to stop at a restaurant ahead, and get something hot!

In under a kilometre, we ran into a couple more cyclists headed our direction. After a quick chat with them, I learnt they too were from Bangalore and were headed to Leh. They did not seem like they wanted to remain in a conversation, so I headed my way. The little snack had recharged my batteries and I found myself cycling a brisk pace now. Of course, Chandramouly was still ahead of me though.

As we kept cycling, I realised it was getting a little uncomfortable riding with the rain gear on. It trapped all the body heat in so much that I was almost sweating, even though it was freezing outside! Anyhow, after riding about a bit, I saw a small shack by the side of the road. As I got closer, I saw that the shack had a kerosene stove lit up inside. On closer inspection, I saw there were packets of Maggi too. I was not too sure if this is where we were supposed to halt for lunch, but I did not give it a second thought. I immediately stopped and shouted out to Chandramouly, who was quite ahead of me, to stop. He could not hear me and continued riding ahead.

I got into the shack and called for a Maggi. As the guy started preparing it, I saw Mizan approaching. I asked him if he wanted to stop and get a Maggi too. He did indeed! Next in line was Akshay. When I asked him if I should call a Maggi for him too, his face lit up! And so did the shack owner’s! Soon Ramya, HT and Gurudeep arrived. This indeed was the place we were to stop. We sent the jeep to chase Chandramouly and get him back. And then he joined us too, with the driver.

With the shack having only Maggi and tea in their menu, we all called for a second round. Sitting in the shack, we saw a huge bird that flew across and perch up on a tree. Gurudeep, Akshay and I stepped out to find it, and then got a few pictures of it. Turns out, it was a Himalayan Griffon, and we were glad we stepped out in the rain to locate it!

Meanwhile, the rain showed no signs of relenting. Though most of us would have preferred to stay back in the warm and dry shack, we had to get back on the road again. I do not know if I was hallucinating, but the slope seemed to be getting steeper since our last stop. After a couple of hairpin bends, the rain finally gave in. Perhaps, because we were now over the rain clouds!

It was getting a whole lot windier, and a whole lot colder as we headed up towards the snow-capped mountains. I found it quite thrilling riding on the very edge of the road, while watching the valley below, and tracing the twisted road that got us up here. But after spotting an overturned truck in a river below, I decided to keep a little away. But it was still very tempting to keep peeking at the green valley below every once in a while.

Chandramouly and Mizan had gotten so ahead of us that they were now out of sight. Knowing well that there was only one road everyone had to take meant that one did not have to ask anyone for directions. En route, we came across a herd of horses galloping away on the hills. It was quite a sight, and I thought I must keep up with them! Of course, that was not a smart thing to do and I slowed down to ride with the group again. With a few more kilometres left for the day, the jokes we cracked enabled us to divert our attention from the fatigue that was catching up.

After a while, Virender passed us guys in the second jeep. This jeep was to be our mobile kitchen for the ride, and it also carried our tents in addition to all supplies we would require for the next few days. They were headed to our campsite to set up our tents, so that they would be ready when we would arrive.

As dusk approached, the wind picked up considerably. As if the slope was not bad enough, now, we had to fight the wind too. In just a little bit, up ahead, I saw what looked like a little settlement. Ha, I thought it very well could be Marhi. I slipped down a couple of gears, put my head down and started pedalling a little quicker. As I got closer, I saw that Mizan and Chandramouly were already there. But our jeep was not. Ah, this was definitely not where we were to stop for the day, but we could do well with a break. Although there were quite a few people at the place, we cyclists did not get much attention from them. I soon learnt the reason for that was a couple of French cyclists – who had arrived there a little earlier. Those guys had started their ride from Chandigarh and had no backup whatsoever! No wonder, we guys were ignored!

Anyhow, having been there before, Gurudeep pointed to us where Marhi was. It was not much further away, but we could see that it required some more climbing. As it was getting dark, we got back on the road again. After a bit of cycling, one last hairpin bend remained. Approaching it, I estimated each of its legs were at least about a half kilometre in length. And the good thing was the first part was a slight downhill! My joy was short-lived because the headwind was so strong at this point that I had to keep pedalling to get the bike moving. After what felt like forever, it was time to turn around and head up again – for one last time for the day. The headwind now turning into tailwind assisted us in the climb. For the first time ever, cycling uphill felt easier than getting down!

In little time, we made it to Marhi. We could not locate where our jeep was, so we had to wait for the rest of the guys to join us. While waiting for the others, Chandramouly and I, found a shack that had a fire lit up and warmed ourselves beside it. Soon, Mizan, Akshay and Ramya gave us company too. Once Gurudeep arrived with HT, he pointed to us where our campsite was. It was well away from the hustle and bustle of this little settlement and I instantly loved it! In spite of a long day of riding, we raced towards it. The crew were still setting up our sleeping tents. I could see that it was struggle getting them up amidst this strong wind.

A large dining tent was already set up, and we guys got into it while the crew went about setting up the rest. There was some food being readied in the mobile kitchen, and it smelt great! Sitting on the mattress inside the tent felt heavenly after a long day on the saddle! By the time we guys filmed a little video of ourselves, the sleeping tents were ready. We moved our luggage into them and changed into cleaner and warmer clothes. With it being so windy, no one was going to take a bath tonight! Or tomorrow morning for that matter! Once cleaned up, we got back to the dining tent. The mood inside the tent was a happy one! Each of us had many things to say about the day’s ride, though, things quietened up a bit once the food arrived. After a scrumptious dinner, we stepped outside. It was dark by now, and we found ourselves standing underneath a million stars.

As we were talking about, the sky suddenly lit up for an instant – so bright that it almost felt like mid day! When I looked up, I saw a streak of light across the sky, slowly fading away! That is when I realised it was a shooting star! Goosebumps! I could have made a wish, but I was too much in awe to do that! I had never seen anything as magnificent before! The ride up here felt worth it just to witness this event!

Still in awe, we walked about a bit before we got back to our tents. The only thing left now was to tuck into our sleeping bags and get some rest. Tomorrow, we would get across Rohtang La!

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