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**shubh anshuman** · 08-13-2016, 07:35 PM

Re: Dream Ladakh Expedition _ June'16

Originally posted by chaosaddict View Post

Congrats on completing this, and thanks for sharing!

Now, bring on the rest mate.

Thank you

I'll update every detail.

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Originally posted by backlash4u View Post

Waiting for the rest. Good work so far...

thank you bro.

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Originally posted by deepakp10 View Post

Nice planning brother..
Wish you happy and safe journey ahead..
All the Best for your trip, ride hard ride safe.

Thanks bro.

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Originally posted by krishna77 View Post

Nice read.
Waiting for the next part!

Sent from my Xperia L.

Thank you.

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Originally posted by sajalsheth View Post

You have read my Ladakh Travelogue also !!

Thanks @shubh anshuman ji

Please continue with your next update after Kargil

Yes, and it was very nicely written with very important detail.

how was your expreince with your bike. Did you made any carb. tuning?
Eventhough my bike was only 14000 km old it suffered during climbs.

And thanks to you I came up with a jugaad to carry petrol cans.

**krishna77** · 08-15-2016, 10:56 AM

Re: Dream Ladakh Expedition _ June'16

Nicely put!

**sajalsheth** · 08-16-2016, 12:31 PM

Re: Dream Ladakh Expedition _ June'16

Originally posted by shubh anshuman View Post

Yes, and it was very nicely written with very important detail.

how was your expreince with your bike. Did you made any carb. tuning?
Eventhough my bike was only 14000 km old it suffered during climbs.

And thanks to you I came up with a jugaad to carry petrol cans.

[MENTION=73550]shubh anshuman[/MENTION] ji... Thank you

I did not make any change in my Pulsar 200 NS except the petrol cans fittings.
It suffered power loss at one stiff turning at Marsimik La due to less oxygen present at high altitude passes.
The carb. of Pulsar was not touched for my Ladakh ride.

India is Great , so is it's JUGAAD

**shubh anshuman** · 08-24-2016, 03:04 AM

Re: Dream Ladakh Expedition _ June'16

Day 5 : Leh to Khardung La & back

DOJ :29th June, 2016
Distance covered:117km.

Map:

Well everyone feels a bit different after getting Leh'd and we were no exception. Today in this sunny day group motto was crystal clear.. It was the day to climb the "Highest Motorable roads in the world".

Since it was 80Km ride for the day, we were relax about it. All of us were still cheering our last night party:

And our stallions were relaxing:

While everyone were busy in morning ritual, I took some time to look around hotel. Met with some local persons and got to know many information about Ladakh. They said as of now from May to Sept. is full of tourist around here. But soon some tunnel project from both Jammu and Manali sides are going on, after completion Leh will be assessable for all 12 months by road and both zozilla as well as Rohtang pass doesn't need to cross after that. Tourism is major player of Leh economy. There is no vegetation in these area. Lands are completely barren all around. Ladakhi people grows their own food in house compounds. During winter vegetables are airlifted from Chandigarh and that too in Army aircrafts and price goes upto 120-200/kg..

Spare some of your time with a Ladakhi and it won't take you long to appreciate his/her simplicity, generosity, way to deal life and every single quality that an ideal human good should poses ... these people are simply amazing and 'THE" best.

I look over watch and it was already 9.30 by now, hence I quickly went back to hotel and got geared up for the trip.
By 10 we were all set and ready to climb the world highest motorable pass:

Without luggage bikes were moving like a flying bee. Leh was full of tourist. Bikers were buzzing all around the city and everywhere there was a biker. We made our first pitstop to refuel ourselves. After a very heavy punjabi butter parantha breakfast we left

and went to refill our lovely rides

But something was missing, it was the Ladakhi flag. I think it's like a tradition to get the blessing and get flagged while you come Leh. With all pleasure and respect we flagged our bikes with peace prayer of "Om Mani Padme Hum". Each one of our bikes personality were like enhanced after that. By now it was 11.45am and we were still in Leh.

We move ahead and came out side the city. Even the view from city is amazing

Soon we reached Leh gate.

The way to Khardung La starts from left side before Leh gate. Initially road is very narrow, with population living aside. One need to be very careful while riding on this stretch as kids were also playing near road and traffic movement of cars are high. We crossed the residential area and soon we were on free road.

After 15 mins. I stopped for the group to re-assemble and clicked following pics to admire the place.

While waiting for Arun we heard a loud aircraft noise. The plane was none other than mighty Globemaster C-17.

A major carrier aircraft in Indian Air force area. It plays a crucial role in transporting essential material to support life even in unwanted conditions.

It was huge. And soon it was gone...

And After many minutes Arun came

We all left after that.

10mins ride after the stop, there was a check point. They have asked for the Vehicle RC and ID proofs. But unfortunately Manish bhai has left his vehicle document at hotel and we thought it might become an issue now, but after some discussion they allowed. The rule is to not allow rented bikes but I have noticed, many rented bikes on the way.

We all rolled off and halted at many other places for the pics.

We saw many cyclists on the route. And I must say it's one hell of a task when you can't even breather properly.

Thank god we were on bikes and things were neat..

Soon we reached at an altitude of 14000ft and took a halt.

Things started to change from here. Even though we have consumed Diamox last night but the AMS has started showing its effect. It was the highest altitude point we have ever been on the trip. We can feel high sensation in legs. Muscles cramps has been started now. Even ear were clogged. Lips were getting extreme dry and Something was happening in the stomach which was not so please.The worse thing happening was with my bike. It has started showing altitude signs too. Once we left from, there was tremendous power drop and unburnt fuel was coming out of exhaust. The same symptoms were in other bikes too. Road were good and after very honest struggle and effort we made upto South Pullu by 1.15pm

South Pullu has an army traffic post under Siachin Brigade at an altitude of 15300ft. Here we have filled a Rs10 form, sharing our information. Its a rule and every ongoing vehicle need to register on this post. We had some snacks over here and left. With the first left after the post, tarmac disappeared and we there was 14 more Kms to climb.

But as you can notice in pics that the road construction was going on and soon a very wide road will be there for Khardung La

But at that time I was doing 4th gear full accelerator @10~20km/hr....and that's it. The best I can do was to keep the momentum and thats what I was doing. Regardless of dirt, potholes, water I was just trying to keep the momentum and keep climbing.

Soon we came across our first water crossing of the day. It was long but flow was slow with clear view. We went ahead and slowly crossed it.

But not all of us were that lucky and Mansih bhai was left with wet shoe.

It was very nice view up there, but irrespective of that I was forced to keep the momentum. Because if I had lost it, there was no chance that bike would have climbed that height. Every inch of roll was getting tough and tough. Combustion chamber was lacking some serious amount of oxygen and it was raising my worry.

Slowly we were moving high and by 2.30 Pm we were at sky high "Khardung La". It was one of happy moment of our lives. We all together made it upto this high.

It was amazing up there. High speed wind speed stream was flowing. Sun was high. Temp. was down and most amazingly for a short interval we even saw snow fall. We all were getting crazy here.

View from khardung La

We all had moment with our respective bikes over here, to admire its capability who made this possible. They had suffered way more than us.

But after spending some 15~20, we call feel the low oxy. in air. It was getting difficult to breathe.

As we were about to return a Force traveller came loaded with many young tourists. They were enjoying it, but what I didn't like over there was this

I was thinking its not a "Akhara" or Show place, What the hell are you trying to do? Whom you are trying to show off. Its the land of Lama and one shouldn't be a gama over here. People should respect the place and its essence (my view). I didnt like their action at Khardung La.

Not only this, I saw many broken beer bottles, people dancing outside cars on loud music, throwing garbage unethically. My request, respect the place. Be a responsible traveller.

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Anyway after all this drama we all planned to move back. After 2~3 attempts bike got started but even keeping 15K RPM constant was getting tough. Slowly we started and rolled back. With extreme low power bike was moving ahead. Road was disastrous, but my main objective was to keep the bike rolling. I was going in single pace at low speed. By the time we reached at the water crossing water level had raised up, and flow was high. But the worst part was beast gave up suddenly before that. While rolling I tried to start it again, but there was no effect. And finally it has came to halt.

I came down and tried again, but no effect. After that I switched off the ignition and gave some time to gain some more air pressure. Again switch was on and another fail attempt was tried, by now some other bikes came by to help. Everyone tried its own style to bring it back but this was of no use and resulted in dead battery. Now over here there was no chance that it will fire again. By now except mine each bike of our group has passed the crossing and Arun was guiding other vehicle to cross the water pass. After that Arun and Anurag bhai came. They also tried but same result. They brought the bike through pass. Now the main issue was what to do?? How to bring back bike to life? or brought it back to Leh.

In these regions if anyone bike loses its life and there is no help for next many many kms, don't panic. And I wouldn't suggest anyone to push a bike. Lungs will burst certainly. Wait for any army truck or any other truck. Just ask the nicely for the help, and I can bet no one will deny. thats the best you can do in these areas.

Fortunately in my case it was down roll till Leh. So after crossing I pushed it for some 100m, and believe me my lungs were about to come out. Once the downhill started I jumped over it and started rolling. Road was bad but I needed to maintain momentum whatever I had. With least braking I was on a roller coaster ride. And overtaken all the bike till south pullu. After that road was good and somehow I was doing 40km~50km/hr downhill. The situation got worse when the cars started to come down. It was a nightmare to hold the momentum and maintain the traffic. I was struggling badly during that phase. When it was looking like Leh is not so far now, suddenly a hill climb came and was worried to pull bike up. And then like Hanuman Anuj bhai came from behind and given push through legs. Climb was over in next 5 mins and it was a big relief. From there Anuj bhai was continuous with me. After rollling for about 45km and by 5.40 pm. I reached Leh and thanked god. Literally some pain was over. through my early I had a no. of mechanic in Leh named Kallu. I called him and said about my condition. After few mins he came on black MH registered FZ. it was downhill till his shop, so we went down.

There I met 2 rider from Pune. they had the same story and their FZ lost its breath on taglang la. It was lifted from their till Leh. Not only FZ or pulsar many bikes losses their breath on high passes. FI vehicle are much better than Carb ones. I have seen CBR, 500 Enfield and KTMs were doing fine on high passes. ECU of these bike are well programmed even to handle these roads.

Anyway Bike was in garrage and there was no life, battery was dead and I was worried about rest of the trip.

I asked Kallu to look for carb first, but he has something else in mind. He opened the engine head, tighten and loosen the tappets, even made some fitting in time chain, but no nothing. Once he opened the carb, large amount petrol suddenly came out of it. The reason for engine dead was flooded chamber. He cleaned it and putted some electric wire in main jet to reduce the oil flow. But still issue was there and after many trial something improvement came. It was already 10 by now, and I decided to leave for hotel and look after things for tomorrow.

I paid him 250 as labour charge and went back to hotel. All of other group members were on city tour. I was tired and equally worried. By late night all came and shown pics.

After dinner I went on net and posted FB post in bikers group regarding suggestion. I was planning to leave the bike in Leh or Karu before the pangong trip. but after many discussion it was finalised that to take the vehicle for the Pangong

Coming Soon: the day dedicated to "Bittu"

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Dream Ladakh Expedition _ June'16

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