Praful

Apologies solicited!

You guys can kill my manager, he's assigned me some top priority tasks. So the 12 hours wait might turn into a 18 hours wat

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vas

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YAMAHA
HONDA
IDEAL JAWA

yatishankar

Praful sir, this is absolutely stunning.....eagerly waiting for ur log....

congrats again for what you all have achieved.....

Bring it on sir jee...fast

Praful

The Beginning: It was the winter of 06, and I was staring in disbelief at my computer terminal. I was looking at pictures from a travelogue to Ladakh, and the beauty captured in the pictures had me staring at my computer screen for most part of my not so productive work day. Never before I knew that hills of Ladakh are motor able let alone beautiful. To me it was just a scraggy mountain side to which only the natives and the Indian Army had access to.

It was from that moment on, I knew that have to ride there someday. And thus began the itch with no cure, the itch to ‘Ride to Ladakh’. Since that day on I would jump to gulp down any Ladakh travelogue that I came across, such was deep rooted interest in being there that by the end one year I had almost memorized all names of places and objects of interest in the areas surrounding it. The year 2007 was a turning point; I had finally got myself a bike in November and was already planning my ride to the mountains, but it was another year lost since my quest for Ladakh began. 2008 did not turn out to be any different, a mix of personal and official commitments meant me not being able to take time during the ‘season’ that roads were open, and thus I saw another year just fly by me with my dream still just remaining a dream.

Then came 2009, I knew at the start of this year that this was going to be the year I will convert my dream into reality. And with a stroke of luck my good old biking pals from Chennai were planning the same thing. With things looking up for us, we started planning things full steam ahead. But Murphy’s Law had to show its ugly face, my life personally had fallen into disarray due to a multitude of things and I had to put myself on hold for the trip. As the days passed things went from bad to worse and I had lost all hope of making it to Ladakh. With a heavy heart I had to withdraw myself from the ride and had given up all hope visiting my dream destination even this year.

And thus my friends left to get “Leh’d”, a few days into their ride one of them calls me up just to give an update about where they were and what all had seen and felt till then. A few things changed for me in those few minutes that I spoke to my friend. For one, I decided that personal chaos be damned, I just have to ride to Ladakh this year. I presented my idea of Ladakh to Pranay & Veda, and they immediately agreed. Good for me, it was a second chance at getting “Leh’d”. But it was not to be, soon enough the sadistic Mr. Murphy peeped in once again, and this time in the form of a mandatory 1 week shut down of the company in the month of August. This meant one thing and one thing alone, I do not get my two weeks leave for the month of September. For the second time again, I had to call of the Ladakh ride only to be rescued by another fellow biker who wanted to go to Ladakh in the time period of my company was to shutdown. Things fell into place and I was back to planning and executing mode, by now I was used to the necessary checklists, etc that would be created for planning a ride of this scale. Oh don’t get happy just yet, Murphy’s law came into place yet again and this time the form of family commitments which led to canceling my third Ladakh plan of the year.

By this time I was convinced that ‘Ladakh’ and ‘Me’ can fit in one sentence only if the word ‘Jinx’ fits in it. I will cut a long story short and just say that I revived my old plan with Pranay & Veda. Only difference this time around was that the planning and execution required was minimal as I had already done most of spade work.

The Preparations: As mentioned before the preparations were minimal, we just had two areas of focus i.e. bikes & protection from the weather. We carried the basic spares and since the three bikes were the same basic bike most spares and tools could be shared across. We had the route plan in place, a basic idea of the places to stop over for the night, approximate fuel stops and burning desire to ride in the mountains.

The Start: We were transporting our bikes, saddle bags, riding gear via train. Three days before our scheduled departure, all these items were nicely packed up and loaded onto the train. There was huge mess at my house where in I was frantically trying to pack everything, trying not to forget anything important.






I have a tendency to pack more than necessary, I am not sure if it’s a good thing or not. But I throughout the trip I did not fall short of anything that I needed.

With the bikes and additional luggage shipped out to Delhi, all I had to do was twiddle my thumbs for the next two days till the time I got onto the Bangalore – Delhi non-stop flight.

And hence the Journey begins….


Next Navigation:-

2. The Riders
3. Day (-2) & Day (-1)
4. Day 1 : Delhi - Amritsar
5. Day 2 : Amritsar - Jammu
6. Day 3 : Jammu - Srinagar
7. Day 4 : Srinagar - Drass
8. Day 5 : Drass - Leh
9. Day 6 : Leh
10. Day 7 : Leh-Diskit
11. Day 8 : Diskit-Panamik-Leh
12. Day 9 : Leh-Pangong Tso
13. Day 10 : Pangong Tso - Marismek La - Leh

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Aparajith

Bring 'em on buddy. It just seems like yesterday that we were standing at Tanglang-La sulking, feeling dizzy and drained on that cold barren landscape! Ah, those good memories...... Finally u did it!!
Well, ur not alone! When I saw ur bike with that saddlebag+trekking bag stacked on the rear with a backpack on u, I just cud not stop laughing!!!

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Democracy is when 2 wolves and a sheep meet to decide who is for dinner. Liberty is when the sheep has a gun.

Praful

Is that 'Aahh' in pain??

Thanks dude

Soon soon

Thanks man!

Aye Cap'n

Thanks buddy!

Why you can't? If not today, I'm sure in the near future you will be able to. It is a mecca for us bikers, every biker must do this pilgrimage at sometime!

Thanks yaar!

You're in a hurry! Sabr, thoda aur sabr

Sorry dude! :|

Thank you sir!

I had a tank bag, saddle bag, bungee'd down haversack and a camera backpack... it was feakin crazy , but all this kept me nice and warm

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whizzkid_ram

This is going to be a complete drool stuff...bring em on

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Ananth

Aah.. Nice... SO the thread is up! Congrats once again!

P.S: Time to update your signature

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Please Wear a HELMET Regardless of what ever Bike you Ride. ATGATT!



My Travelogues:

The Maha RoadTrip | SaddleSore

Leh - Ladakh | Idukki | Coorg - Wayanad - Mudhumalai | Point Calimere | Thekkady - Munnar - Valparai

Solo to Ooty |South Western Karnataka |In Search Of "The God" - In God's Own Country!

Mibhin

Hey Congrats Praful...... Awesome Teaser....

Waiting for more pics.....

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Excellence is not a Skill
Its an Attitude

rossiter

Stunning photo, and your words are more or less describing what I'm going through. Except, it is worse when you've already tasted Leh and want to go back. You'll see what I'm talking about soon enough..

Same goes for you as well Apar..

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"Tough times never last, but tough people do." - Robert Schuller
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R.I.P Kriss; 15.06.1981 - 11.10.2009 -- You will not be forgotten.