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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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