born2lead

Excitement was rising with each day passing by taking us closer to the D Day – August 9. It was a Saturday before which we had to work for 5 Days till Friday. That particular week was real tough; as we had loads of pending work piled up to be finshed but had zilch interest in doing any. Especially the last couple of days I was just day dreaming all the time, even at night it wasn’t easy to sleep.
Towards the mid of the week, it started raining and it rained hard. Coz of which our parents and friends seemed quite worried. Though we were mentally prepared for the rains, we started to pray “O Dear Lord, just keep the rains away when we start from Home on 9th August.”
August 8 2200hrs Ankur and I had everything (apart from the bikes) - Medical kit, Toolkit kit, Spare parts, Riding Gears, Rain Gears, Tank bags, Fuel Cans, Backpack Bags, Warm cloths, Bungee cords, Cameras and other electronic items etc all spread out on his double bed. Packing everything to accommodate on 2 bikes was also quite a task. Ankur’s parents were just standing at a corner of his room and were smiling at us.
While Ankur was all charged up thoroughly checking the lists we had prepared earlier and strategically packing things in tank bags keeping in mind the blessings Showered by Rain God. He looked at me as if I would have some suggestions to make, and I just murmured “Dude!! I still can’t believe We Are Going to Ride - LEH”.
“Don’t you want to sleep for some time, you have a big day tomorrow, pack all this stuff fast and take some rest” said Ankur’s Father. He then picked the two fuel cans and asked me to come along to tie them to the bikes. We tied the empty cans to the sari guards of both the bikes. I was a little skeptical about this arrangement; I was suspecting that fuel cans wouldn’t be a problem until filled. The cotton ropes might not be able to hold all that weight, but fortunately I was proved wrong during the entire trip. After packing everything we went to sleep and unlike the previous few nights were next awaken only by the Alarm. Right after which got a sweet message from an even sweeter friend “No sign of rains, with clear sky even the Rain God is smiling at you… Rab Rakkha” (I am sorry I don’t remember it exactly). Couldn’t have thought of a better start.
The Tank Bag right at its place and the Backpack Bag resting firmly at the pillion seat well griped with bungee cords had left just the adequate amount of space on the rider’s seat in between them. And we both all dressed up for the ride stood right besides the stallions. Pressed the self-ignition switch and left the engine running for it to be prepared. We went closer to Ankur’s Parents, bent down and touched there feet to seek the much needed blessings. With the final words from them “ek – doosre ka dhyaan rakhna” they waved All The Best.
It was 4am August 9 just perfect as we planed and Our Ride To LEH had begun. With a post rain cool breeze at this hour we started towards Nariana where our own Desideep was waiting for us to wish his best wishes. He rode with us towards Delhi Border. We got the bikes tanked up and with a final adios to Desideep and then to Delhi took Karnal bypaas. We maintained a very comfortable speed of 75-80kmph and crossed Murthal. Just a few days back I read in the newspaper that the new flyover at Panipat was inaugurated and was now open for public. And just before reaching Panipat I could see the flyover with a trail of lit road lights at the center divider of the six lanes going up and then gradually descending down a little. We both looked at each other, smiled and in a jiffy the speed started increasing to three digits. All most like racing with each other we overtook few cars on the long flyover and crossed the entire Panipat stretch which earlier due to construction used to take anywhere between 20-30mins in 8-10mins.
Took the first break at Zhilmil – Karnal (almost 150kms from home) for tea. Could see the energy through Ankur’s eyes while he was finishing his tea. We resumed out journey and while it was almost 8am Sun God were still lazing behind the clouds. Though there were few spells of sparkles but no actual rain we rode comfortably and took the second break just before entering Chandigarh at 8:30am. While we were crossing Chandigarh people were staring at us while I was expecting otherwise as so many guys and groups ride these days and all heading to places like Manali and Higher usually take this route. Anyhow as people were still catching up the late lazy weekend morning on Chandigarh roads we managed to pass through in minimal traffic.

Roads aren’t as great till Kiratpur from where it’s the magnificent hill road that won’t let you think anything else but enjoy the curves as you ride ascending up for sometime. Next we stopped at Bilaspur and had an amazing lunch at a road side Sher-e-Punjab Dhaba. Roads till SunderNagar weren’t as great so we rode that section a little slower but after SunderNagar we resumed back to the speed and started enjoying curves.
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Post Mandi all of a sudden the temperature dropped by a few degrees and instantly we could feel it just after the next turn we saw the Dam at Oat. Though it said Do Not Stop Vehicle and Photography Prohibited we saw few tourists (All Indians) negating the rules. We continued riding but a little slowly and we could actually listen to the water falling down and could see the mist getting formed from below.
After a few more kilometers was another surprise a 2.8km long tunnel through the hill. HID fitted in Ankur’s ZMA was put to use and we enjoyed slight turns and ups & downs while crossing the tunnel. This tunnel is the only section in between Manali and Mandi (Approx 100kms) where the river isn’t flowing by the road. What more can a rider ask for when he gets a perfect weather, amazing tarmac, tempting curves and if that is not enough the continuous gurgling of water from the river by the road side.


Crossed Kullu and reached Manali at 5pm. Again to my surprise we didn’t see many riders (just 1-2) on this day, heading to or fro LEH. Checked into a hotel near the main Bus Stand with descent parking for just Rs250. Had a sweet post dinner walk at the Mall road with ice-cream and gulabjamun.

Click for Day 2...