Manali Leh Cycling Expedition 2014

Seldom it happens that everything comes together so beautifully as it did in my case. Oct’13 when I conceived riding Manali to Leh. Oct’13 – I began riding that very month. I rode with friends, developed stamina (my longest ride till then 220 km), worked out in gym, left tennis and the biggest of all… convinced Namita (my wife)… all this just for this dream. 

Reached Manali (Packed my bike in a box and boarded Volvo with the entire group). One can tuck the bike box in bus belly.

It started with self-doubt. Never rode on hills before. Elevation gain is a joke when you practice on Delhi Roads; particularly in East Delhi. You still have some elevation profiles in South Delhi or Gurgaon. Going back to expedition, as a rider, I had my focus on my riding gear, my bike. That was the only thing I knew I had my controls on. Do I have the right body warmers, right wind cutters, am I prepared for road slushes, what will I do if it rains during the ride, should I mount a handlebar bag, am I doing the right thing keeping hydration back pack, Oh shit… I forgot my Diamox this morning. Such doubts aggravate when you meet fellow cyclists who’ve been eating, drinking, and sleeping cycling for ages.

Day 1: Manali to Marhi – “Don’t compare yourself, they have a different league”.

So I began my journey with my 17 Kg Bianchi Kuma 4650 (why didn’t I go for a lighter one; another keeda in my head). Like they said it’s an expedition, I start riding and find myself alone on Manali Leh highway. And guess what, I started feeling tired legs within first 15-20 minutes. And I see most riders moving ahead with ease; and I reminded myself again that it’s an expedition, so why hurry.

So after huffing and puffing I reach Kothi (our designated lunch point) ahead of scheduled arrival time. Already breathless, had some bread omlette- chai, refilled water, took almost 30 minutes of rest. Our lead group (Akshay, Ankita, Rajiv Dubey, Malli, Shreyas, Balbir, Supratim, Mukesh or may be some more) had left the lunch point within 10 minutes of me reaching the point. I was almost in awe of these riders, their gear, outfits, bikes (they were also talking about creating KOMs…some shit)

Post Lunch ride – Kothi to Marhi                                     

I found a partner in Sudhir Rawat (found a common factor that he works in same company as my brother’s); and found him disappeared within 15 minutes. I later realized that he is a photographer and was slow for obvious reasons. After climbing a few loops I found a corner; a sofa shaped stone, found it tempting enough to stop. The Nature has its own way to provide you comfort. Had my breakfast sandwich (preserved it for a mid- ride snack), saw some vultures flying over my head and moved on (yeah same thought came to my mind)

Rest of my journey was boring except a couple of down-hills (experienced them for the first time) and sight of Kothi from top, made me feel proud and confident that “I can climb”.  After an hour of persistent cycling I see Chiro diverting riders towards camp site and there I see 7-8 riders already resting. They already were in their Camp Clothing (heavy warmers/ jackets/ lowers). I was offered warm shikanji by crew (the first and the last time), I had a couple of them and found most tents were already taken. I asked Shubho (one of the organizers) “when did these guyz reach here?” Shobho answered, “don’t compare yourself with these guys, they are a different league”. A sportsman in me got shaken hearing this. I had no option but to swallow it like a bitter pill.

It rained that evening, we had a nice introduction session, enjoyed hot dinner and slept alone in my tent. People were already grouped and had their buddies. I missed Raj Kumar, who missed this ride due to an accident a week prior to this ride, my riding buddy. 

Day 2: Focus & grip. To Rohtang; Tandi

Next morning I started my ride prepared to take on Rohtang pass (about 15 km of steady climb). I rode with confidence, all my self-doubts were almost over and body was taken over by athlete in me. I started a couple of minutes ahead of Rajiv Dubey and Malli. I was paddling hard with little bit of worry of icy slushes one comes across while going to Rohtang. Huffing..puffing… I reached half way and here come Dubey and Malli over take me with ease. Oh Gosh… I thought in mind… stopped for a while, hydrated myself and re-started my journey to Rohtang Pass. Last 3-4 kilometers were challenging because of strong headwind leave alone the high gradient climb. While I was paddling hard to cut the wind there was enough in store in terms of tail wind after switching back. I found tail wind section always shorter in distance. It felt like riding through hell. I had to get down on a few bends because of strong head winds. The trophy for me, besides reaching Rohtang in 90 min, was to reach ahead of Dubey and Malli. I was happy, had a cup of hot tea complimented with hard earned 15 min break at Rohtang Pass.

My win was soon overtaken by fear of upcoming decline of 17 odd kilometers. (Reason for fear - we had a meeting with an experienced cyclist on this route who shared that his top speed reached 80kmph on certain down-hills). It was going to be my first downhill experience. I was puzzled for 2 reasons: a) I had mechanical disk brakes; good part: braking is gradual and not sudden. You would want to brake in this way to avoid toppling b) I did not have hydraulic brakes; good part: In the event of going downhill at high speed, this braking system gives you sudden braking and can prevent you falling from cliff. So there was enough Khichadi in my mind on braking.

 So after a kilometer of gradual climb, the downhill welcomed us with nice black hard tarmac surface and I was zipping, consciously to begin with. But soon I was enjoying the experience. As they say; nature is unforgiving, nice black hard tarmac road soon disappeared and so my enjoyment. The ride converted into off-road downhill experience, this was not briefed to us. There was hardly any road patch so I was riding extremely cautiously over rock to rock. Yes! moving rock to rock, talking to myself “Focus & grip”. One needed a tight grip to negotiate pot holes, rocks, complimented with steep downhill. It was hard to control the speed. Somehow I finished the downhill ride and reached Koksar for Lunch at a dhabha. It felt like being in Delhi w.r.t. temperature.

We were told that Koksar to Tandi is almost plain so covering 35 odd kilometers shouldn’t be tough. Hence our original stop-over from Sissu was shifted to Tandi. We were pretty OK about it.

After a 15-20 min break, I started post lunch ride with Akshay and Ankita. They both were fast riders and soon disappeared into roller coaster serpentine road. Soon I learnt that “there are no plains” in this region. And ride wasn’t easy-peasy as we were told. Koksar to Sissu is scenic and smooth so covered this 20 odd kms without much of trouble. I distinctly remember 3 problems after Sissu. 1) Dusty roads due to road widening ; a horrible stretch of almost 5 kms. I must have taken almost a Kilo of dust in my system 2) No sight of camp after reaching Tandi. I somehow got alongwith Supratim while I was looking for camping/ stop-over sight. Supratim spotted a petrol pump (the last one on the highway till Leh), stopped there, clicked a snap and found our camping crew member. He probably reached there just then. Had Supratim missed the Petrol Pump we would have gone ahead (Dubey & Malli were furious as they were riding ahead and gone ahead as well) 3) Riding uphill to camp site. Already frustrated, riding roller coaster besides eating Kilo of dust, we were told by the crew member to go uphill a bit and take a left for camp. The up-hill was steep & tough and total distance was approximately 1 km. It was enough for me to get down from my bike to walk the last 100 odd meters. We definitely were not briefed properly about road profile. Grrrr…..

The camp site had a monestry and lama house. Some of us took fresh water bath; that was indeed refreshing. The crew prepared hot Pakoras with Chai. Later that ended on a sad note with some of us were complaining about camping facilities alongwith news of Sud, Santhosh and Alok falling on down-hills. Fortunately all were fit enough to ride next day.

Day 3: Every Uphill is followed by a downhill…. Followed by an uphill To Patsio

It was an easy day with 60 odd kilometers to ride and having no pass to climb. Day starting with a downhill ride is always welcome. Tandi to Keylong was an easy ride. No great shakes about it, really. The distance was hardly 8 kms. I saw good hotels and market at Keylong, wonder why the location was not preferred over Tandi.” I am definitely staying at Keylong when I come next on this highway”. The real challenge began post Keylong with steep climb. I remember a patch when I got down and walked to avoid toppling down. I also saw Santhosh baby lying flat on a road side taking rest. It was a 21km uphill –downhill; basically a roller coaster to Jispa. It was a beautiful place with a river in a back drop of glacier all through. I stopped there with Dubey to click some pictures. Next 16km was down-hill (meeting expectations- downhill means off-road) Reached Darcha ahead of time, here we were asked to produce ID cards, had Mutton Thupka at a dhabha as lunch and took some rest.

The ride ahead was an up-hill to Patsio and was a tough one for 2 reasons. 1) This was the first time we were riding uphill post Lunch 2) The up-hill was complimented by strong head wind. Those 15 kms took eternity  to finish as the road was missing all through the distance. I felt dehydrated through the journey ‘cause Sun was right over my head.

The nature played its game and offered a nice down-hill (that was a surprise as it was supposed to be an up-hill all the way) minus 4 km to Patsio. All of us thought that this down-hill will continue till camping site and guess what……. The downhill was over within a Km. We had to ride up-hill till camping site.

It was refreshing to find Deepak Taal right before the camping site (clicked a few pictures) and it became better to see Supratim guiding all towards camping site. That day proved to be tough for Rajiv Chaddha as he fell just before Darcha.

The site was basically a river bed. It was nice and sunny when I reached there. Balbir even took bath in the flowing water (though we discouraged him).

Next 3 days were going to be tough. Chiro almost made me scared about downhill from Baralacha La during the brief. He also decided to shift our stopover from Sarchu to Brandy Nulla. That meant 20km of additional cycling. Again we were told that it’s almost plains. Is it???? 

It became terribly cold that night. Slept early, shared my tent with Alok that night, realizing being single in tent won’t suffice for obvious reasons.

Day 4: Nature has its own way to punish you.  Baralachala; Brandy Naallaa

This was going to be our 2^nd pass and atleast I wasn’t sure of how tough it’s going to get reaching to the top. All we knew that we had to climb 1500 odd meters in next 30 kms. That was the only thing in mind. So we started our ride with a roller coaster road till Zing Zing Bar. That was 5 km or so and stopped by a chai stall. I asked the dhabha waala about the distance to Baralacha La and to my surprise he said “18 kms”. I wanted to believe the local against our organizers because he was reducing the distance. I wanted to believe that locals know more than Google. Yes, it was stupid of me. The next milestone confirmed my stupidity.

Carrying on… the climb was steady but the road condition was better except a few patches. Me, Supratim and Akshay were riding together and we found Akshay missing. Me and Supratim were surprised about the same and there we see him ahead of us with the help of a shortcut. That opened a door for some of us.

One can imagine the difficulty level, as how nature was raising the bar, with the fact that lunch break was allocated 4 km below the pass. The aaloo parathas were packed by organizers for the same. I rode hard and found Balbir walking ahead of me. That was a surprise because he had been riding well. I asked him for his well-being and rode ahead. That day I had taken an additional wind cutting jacket for a downhill to Sarchu. I tied it to my bike and was struggling with it. I gave the same to Chiro to be returned to me at lunch point. On the way I came across a section where I could see road looping closely on flattish terrain. I could have gone for a shortcut had I seen that while climbing up.  

It was heartening to see Shobho sitting in cold near Vishal Taal with lunch packets. I had my share, took some rest and found that my wind cutter wasn’t there. I felt like a fauji who’s supposed to stand and fight even if supplies don’t reach him in time. I started paddling hard to reach the top while sun is shining bright. I reached Baralacha La along with Supratim, Dubey and Sud (who decided to leave photography for some serious riding days).  They asked me if I took that shortcut which they took and repented later. Lesson learnt – Always take the road. Well… nature has its own to punish you for not following the rules.

We started our downhill to Sarchu and found it pretty normal. Honestly I didn’t find it as tough as Rohtang – Koksar. We were welcomed with a snow fall just before Killing sarai, had chai and moved on. Ride till Sarchu was supposed to be a down-hill. The experience was awesome. It was like riding on a flat road without paddling. It was scenic, Dubey even stopped and sat on road for a pic. We reached Sarchu and found some dhabhas, had Maggi and Chai. We still had about 20 km to go but Sun from sky was missing. We had to rush and ride hard. As we knew there are no plains on hills, we reached Brandy Nulla riding through a roller coaster. That day was a tough one even for support vehicles.

While some of us were complaining about the distance covered in a day but it paid off well because temperature at Brandy Nulla was comfortable. So we had covered 20km for next day and were comfortable about next day ride. That night Rajiv Chadha ji and Gagandeep Bhalla ji decided to ride hard and teach us a lesson or two about riding. We had a nice bon-fire, crew even attempted jacket potatoes. I bonded well with Sud that day. He is good friend of mine now.

Day 5: Climber of the tour – Ghata Loops; NakeeLa; LachungLa

From riding point of view this was an easy day (at least I perceived so) for 2 reasons: 1) Total distance was only 53 km 2) I climbed BaralachaLa the previous day; a total of 80 kms. The only matter of worry was staying at Pang @ 14500 ft (our highest stay location). So I took it easy and left late from camp; It was 8:40am. I realized I was wrong within 30 min of pedaling. Ghata Loops are 21 loops/ switchbacks within a distance of 15 odd kilometers with an elevation gain of 1500 meters.

I first came across Vishal Tomar and Manish Singh at the beginning of loops, rode together for a while but then I carried on. That day I heard, Gagandeep Bhalla and Rajiv Chadha were on rampage and riding fast and furious. All through Ghata Loops I kept my eyes down to loops just to find how many I ‘ve climbed so far. It was a treat to watch those loops, as one could see almost all riders, ahead and chasing, almost on all loops. I remember of taking several breaks for trucks to pass by as road was narrow and so were the bends. I reached the point where Ghata Loops end alongwith Supratim.

Next on the list was Nakee La. Having climbed 21 loops there was no respite and we kept on climbing for NakeeLa. Though it was tiring riding in bright sun shine, it became more difficult because of passing Army Convoys and other trucks. In that adversity, I saw NakeeLa milestone a kilometer ahead, it was funny ‘cause Rajiv Chadha and Gagandeep Singh Bhalla clicking taking pics started running as they saw us. Ha ha ha…they wanted to reach early and teach novice riders like us a lesson.

What followed the pass was a downhill (needless to say; a rough one or off-road), reached whiskey nulla had lunch there. Next was my second post lunch climb to LachungLa. Though the distance was only 6km but it brought upon other challenges such as steep climbs and lack of road. There were sections where I decided to get down and walk. It was funny but I even tried 1-0 combination of gears (0 for rear wheel). I saw a few riders struggling with AMS on the way up. I remember taking a garlic bud from Dubey.

Reaching LachungLa was a great relief. Like others I was waiting for downhill part of ride, however; it wasn’t a pleasant experience riding down to Pang. The road is barely there, besides one has to go through a long section that makes you feel that you are riding in The Great Grand Canyons. It gets really scary particularly if you’re riding alone and I was. I thought of stopping and clicking a few pics for my records. I didn’t.

That evening ended on mixed notes. I was HAPPY to see that we were not staying in tents. Our organizers were kind enough to find us a shelter. A dormitory with 10 beds on ground with blankets felt like luxury. I got my BP and oxygen levels checked – they were OK and had great time with friends. WE WERE INDOORS. And SAD to find that one of our seasoned riders had to be hospitalized for oxygen. He was struggling, good that our organizers and Imran were there with him all this while. Next morning he was fit and fine.

Lesson Learnt: Listen to your body, don’t be a Rambo. AMS is much stronger. Respect AMS.

Shryas, one of the seasoned riders we had as part of group, said on dinner table – “Rusty, the climber – a revelation of this tour”. That made my day.

Day 6: Testing times – Tanglangla

It was a penultimate day of the tour by all means. It stared on a funny note though. Imran, who was accompanying our friend in hospital came late to our dorm and found us all asleep. As a result, he could not sleep because of “Snorathon – as he quoted”. He took help of music all through the night.

Coming back to profile; 8 kms of climb, followed by Morey plains – 40 odd kms, and then climbing 20km TanglangLa @ 17600 ft level followed by 35 kms of downhill. The only good news was that downhill had a hard, smooth tarmac surface.

I decided to reach TanglangLa on before 3pm and started my ride. First 8 km climb was not tough, I did that without breaking much sweat. Next on route was Morey Plains. A 40 km straight road on that altitude is difficult to imagine. Akshay told me that road is missing on most part of Morey Plains but it wasn’t found to be so. A few of our riders alongwith Chiro even decided to run a half-marathon on that altitude. But I was too focused on my ride. Didn’t bother much about half- marathon. For the first time on tour I was riding 3-8 combination and was cruising at 30kmph. Minus altitude, it felt like riding on Greater Noida expressway without any traffic whatsoever. I rode well alongwith Akshay with good 30 minutes and reached Debrin for Lunch. You can consider Debrin as TanlangLa base camp.

Road to TanglangLa is not present. It seems like workers left the road unprepared because they were left with no charcoal. Climbing 20km of unforgiving, post lunch, stoney road was the task. Everyone knew that this is the final hurdle. We thought this thought will push us and help finish the ride. Some of our riders were helping organizers marshalling and helping other riders BY CHOICE. For me, this was the challenge I prepared so hard for. All my gym sessions, runs etc were right in front of me. I even tricked my mind thinking of my son Nidheesh waiting for me at TanglangLa. Well it worked and helped me gain a few 100 meters. I realized the main challenge on this section wasn’t climb or distance but lack of oxygen (1/3^rd of normal levels – my estimate). I figured that whosoever decided to walk instead of riding due to breathlessness/ tiredness struggled more. I must have taken 10’s of breaks but never thought of walking, I rode. I guess one consumes more oxygen while climbing.

Couple of life saving moments here were Shreyas, Alok and Srini helping me out with nutrition bars and water while I needed them the most.

Reaching TanglangLa literally brought tears of joys. It was an accomplishment, I was in a state of Zen. Clicked a few pics for my archives. I will treasure them through my life.

Life became more difficult during down-hill towards Upshi. I was riding downhill at 20-25 kmph, kinda slow because of chilling headwinds. I was wearing 3 layers (one base layer and a couple of wind cutters) but I needed 1 more. My fingers and toes were frozen and got numb in a matter of minutes. I didn’t want to fall sick in last leg of our tour. I was in a very bad shape and struggling when I saw God-sent Chiro, Shubho and Gandhi in support vehicle coming from opposite direction. I asked for a jacket and Shubho gave his without taking a second. Can’t thank Shubho for this as he himself was fighting AMS and was leaving in that condition to TanglangLa to help others. I happily took that jacket and started riding with some comfort.

Still 8-10 kms to go for camping site, I rode comfortably and found Akshay and Gagandeep Singh Bhalla enroute. Had a cup of tea, struggled a bit but eventually reached Latu (infamous village that got washed away during 2002 Leh cloud burst) – our camping site. Here we got both options – Tent or home stay and no points for guessing here, all of us chose home stay. Played cards with friends during night, enjoyed bon fire as all of us were relaxed cause next day’s journey was hardly a challenge (at least I perceived so). Some of our friends left for Leh that night only as they could afford another day of BATHLESSNESS.

Day 7: The longest yard – To Leh

This morning I wanted to have my bike cleaned up and chain degreased. Today was my bike’s 1st b’day alongwith Supratim. Took off early in the morning (even before Ankita ;)). Just that Ankita decided to have it easy and let others ride ahead of her. So me and Supratim just took off and wanted to finish off the ride. It began with a 15 odd kilometer descent and then was supposed to become “almost plains” as explained in route manual. Ha.. it was again proved to be a joke. Ride to Leh from Upshi has many spots to cherish such as golden trees with a backdrop of grey/ brown mountains and royal blue Indus river right in front. It was joy to ride on this route.

Me and Supratim decided to skip our designated lunch point and carried on.

In the mid-way one also comes across Shaurya Chakra Vijeyta – Trishul Regiment set up. I wanted to stip and click a few pictures but contd. my ride to avoid arrest ;) It wasn’t allowed to click photographs ;(

As you go close to Leh, you also come across some monestries. Couple of names that stayed my mind are Shey and Thiksay because of Supratims’ narration about ‘how Punjabi fellow would ask his friend enroute to Leh’ i.e.; Leh Sheh Thiksay Pahunch Gaye. :)

Being Delhiite I noticed cars there were clean and didn’t have any dents ;)

The last leg was the most difficult part of this ride i.e. last 3 kilometers. Either we were too excited or hallucinated as the road in front that looked downhill wasn’t so. I had to pedal hard (1-1 combination) to gain distance. The Sun overhead made it more difficult to ride. As they say – The last yard is the longest yard. Supratim told me to stop and click a picture when we get our first sight of the city and so we did. 

We stood there and kept looking with heavy heart. All the tiredness and fatigue were forgotten with that sight. We touched down in few minutes and congratulated each other. Honestly I didn’t know how to celebrate that moment. We saw Amit Kulkarni standing at the entry point. He reached Leh previous night. It was very nice of him. After few minutes of bedazzlement we lifted our bikes and clicked few snaps .

The journey will always remain engraved in my mind. I made many friends. As I write this column, I realize I can visualize each and every road, every section, every hill. I could recognize most of it when we shared our pics after reaching Delhi. It has never happened before with any of my vacation. I have decided to go there again with my family in Car and then may be….  

In search of another challenge....

Photo credits: Sudhir Rawat, Gagandeep Bhall, Chiro, Shobho, Shreyas & Rajiv Chadha