Amazing!! Fantastic !!

went thru the 15 pages, Word by word - pic by pic... truely amazing...

Hats of to all u guys for making the Ride of your life successfully.

Day 5 - A day of surprises

Text: Xinfii

Day 5/15 - Bharathpur to Pang – 100 kms – 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM

I’d told the folks the previous night that the alarm bells would be ringing by 4 in the morning and we need to be riding by dawn. Listening to that everyone moaned as they hit the bit.



Early next morning the alarms rang without fail. Noone by me, dared to respond and wake up. It looked very promising to me and I tried to peek out of the double layers of quilts that were over me. Surprise, surprise! It was colder than I could even imagine and I immediately tucked my head back inside. For a moment I couldn’t understand if this was real. I checked the watch again to see if was really morning. Yes, it was. I made no second attempt and was convinced I would be trying something really foolish trying to get out of the warmth I’d saved all night under the quilts. I pushed the alarm by an hour and dozed off. One hour later, the same episode repeated itself and I decided to push by another hour. At 6, it was a little bright outside, and this time, Kiran had also responded to the alarm. I convinced him that we’d have to leave soon and woke up the others.









Now, there was a bigger problem. The water in the buckets outside was frozen. It was windy that made it even colder. We knew staying inside the tent would do no good and had to step out to finish off the nature calls. We wrapped ourselves with everything we had, from thermal wear, sweater, muffler, monkey caps and riding jackets and stepped out in search of a good spot. Each of us picked a different direction and kept marching until we were convinced we had some privacy. Completing the big mission, we were back in the tent huffing and puffing without enough oxygen to breathe. By this time, the owners of the tent had waked up and were preparing some tea for us. Drinking the hot liquid made us feel better after which we started loading the bags on to the saddle.







Unfortunately, of the two bulleteers that stayed with us, one was down with nausea and low energy levels. He was unable to eat or drink anything and collapsed beyond control. We decided to get him some rest, so left the two bulleteers there and proceeded from Bharathpur.





Practically, Leh was very much reachable from there if we pushed it a little bit. So, with a lot of optimism in mind and positive thoughts, we rode through the snowy mountains for quite some time. I had advised the guys to sync up once in a while since we were now traveling in an area with no cell phone signal or mechanic support. Remembering those words, the folks waited mostly for me, who was the sweeper most of the time.



This day, it was Apar’s turn. He wasn’t doing well, but tried his best to keep himself going. He didn’t want to give in to the energy drain and fought well against it. At some point, Allen and Kiran stopped by a camp, where a guy needed some help with his bike. The two helped him fix it up in about an hour or so. Meanwhile, Apar and I proceeded to the next settlement to get some rest. When Allen and Kiran were back, we moved on.



There was this mountain that had 21 loops, knows as the Gata Loops. It is nothing very special from the regular hairpin bends in the hills, except for the fact that these fall on the same side and are together visible from the top. I remember passing by a truck that had tumbled in one of the loops. At the top of the hill, we synced up, took a small water break and proceeded.







Allen was going a little too fast, so I asked him to tail. I let Kiran and Apar move first as Apar wasn’t feeling well. At some point, I noticed that Allen wasn’t anywhere in my rear view mirror. I asked the other two to keep going and waited for Allen. Time passed by and I was getting worried. A truck passed by and the driver signed to me saying that a vehicle was stuck at some place. I immediately turned the bike and went in search of Allen. After about ten minutes, I saw coming out of a turn that was far away. He was slow, but was steady. When we almost neared each other, he didn’t stop the bike and continued to ride. He shouted to me saying that the spark plug had carbon deposits and that he had fixed the issue. I followed him for a while, but the bike stopped again. He continued to explain that the engine generally burns a fuel and air mixture. At a higher altitude, since the air was lesser, the engine was burning richer fuel, which ended up as carbon deposits on the spark plug. He cleaned it up again, and put the spark plug back. The bike started, but never moved. When tried to do so, it choked and stopped. We tried to repeat the process, but were in vain.

The two of us were sitting there, in the middle of nowhere with the heaviest bike of the lot having broke down. The other two were far ahead beyond communication. A cell phone signal or mechanic support was a good 8-hour drive from where we were. Staring at the dry mountains and the sun above, we sat there hoping some vehicle would come by to offer some help.

After a while, three bikes appeared from around the corner. We didn’t have to signal to them. They stopped by, just by looking at us and understanding our problem. We explained to them what had happened. They dug their bags for any matching spark plugs, but couldn’t find one. They offered some suggestions, but none of them fixed the issue for us. Quite disappointed, they wished us some luck and left place. We were left to staring at each other, again!

Minutes passed and we spotted Kiran approaching us. We were wondering about Apar and understood that probably Kiran left him somewhere to take some rest. We were right. Kiran told us that he had crossed the Nakeela Pass that was just after the place where we were standing. He helped Apar settle down in the middle of a riverbed to get some rest and came back with tools to help us. He also mentioned that he got the information that we were stuck, from a truck driver as well. After a few attempts, we were convinced we couldn’t attempt cleaning the spark plugs. We had to try something different. Kiran had a pretty tough rope, which we decided to tow the vehicle with.



I unloaded my excessive baggage and transferred them to Kiran’s bike. Not having done such an experiment before, we were very careful during the attempt. The region being muddy with very steep drops, we found it had doing this thing. My bike did not go beyond the first gear and was undergoing immense strain. I had a feeling I wasn’t doing the right thing, but we had to move on from there. Staying there would be of no good. As the engine screamed its heart out, I was managing the pull with extreme difficulty. All of a sudden, at some point, the rope snapped! That marked the end of the experiment.



We parked the bikes and decided to wait for some truck that might pass by, so that we could load the bike on to the truck to move it to some place where there are people. It was now a few hours since we’ve been waiting and we were also worried about the lonely sick Apar. Suddenly, like messengers of God, a few bulleteers appeared from around the corner. We waved them to stop and they were more than happy to offer help. When they heard about the problem, they said that they had a Scorpio following them that had some spares. When the vehicle arrived, they dug the bags to find out a matching spark plug. They couldn’t find one, but they got some emery paper, which generally helps cleaning spark plugs. Cleaning it with the paper and putting it back did the trick. They said that this would take us to a nearby settlement, where we could reach for the army guys to get some help. We couldn’t thank them enough for what they’d done. After clicking a picture with everyone together, we moved on from there.






The next settlement’s name was called Pang, which was right after the Nakeela Pass. Allen never stopped his bike anywhere, fearing that it might face issues starting again. We met up with Apar right after the Nakeela Pass. He was doing much well than what he was, a few hours back. After all this confusion, Allen just realized that he’d dropped off his gloves somewhere on the way. Kiran had tucked them somewhere in the saddle, but they had fallen off during the bumpy ride in the Nakeela Pass.





At the entrance of Pang, there was a check post, where we had to provide information about all our vehicles. I had to climb a few stairs, and was finding it quite hard. I sat down on one to take some rest. Looking at that, the person at the check post said that we could be low on oxygen and advised us to visit the army camp to get some medical aid. He added, saying that if we got some oxygen for 10 to 15 minutes, we would be totally back to normal.



With the josh of listening to that, we head straight to the army camp asking for help. The medical officer there examined us and said that our pulse rates were all perfect. He advised us to have some food, as the last meal we had was during previous night. He gave us some tablets for acidity and headache that helped us a bit. Right opposite to the camp was a tent, where we got some food to eat and place to stay for the night.

What wonderful vistas! Simply unmatchable. I haven't read the text as yet, just gawking at the wonderful photograph. Thanks a ton for sharing those tremendously good visuals. Now, I'll go ahead and read the text...Oh wait! Let me have a look at those pictures once more.

Why dont u put up the snaps u took with us in this log? We really would love to have those!!

Those are just a couple of photographs, clicked in that mall in Noida. Would do that shortly, for sure.

Yeah, by an expert photographer after a lot of quarrellings!!

Wow lovely pics and awesome log!

Lucky for you that you found those bulleteers with the spares and the scorpio, Gata loops is one beautiful though scary to be in, in such a situation!

Good pics, nice writeup, keep it coming

What a lovely ride! Great going guys! Haven't read all of the logs, but pics + write up, what a treat!

Just had the chance to go through the pictures.Fantastic will be an understatement.Will through the text later.

Went through the entire log and pictures in the blog...simply awesome...none of the bikes where spared..bullet with spark plug rtr with flat tire, broken brakes, fuelpump fuse,towing phewww....

Finally the thread is up and what an awesome trip, guys!!

I am in absolutely awe after seeing those brilliant pics and descriptive log.Going through the logs and pics, part by part!!

Awesome awesome awesome...No words!
Super man!
I'm planning one soon now. Its too tempting. Will prepare a rally bike and take off

Day 6 - Light at the end of the tunnel

Text: Xinfii

Day 6/15 - Pang to Leh – 180 kms – 8:30 AM to 4 PM

We woke up to the kerosene fumes from the cooking area. It added up to the energy drain we were experiencing, making it even harder to get back to normal. Brushing our teeth and refreshing ourselves, we had a hard time loading the saddle. It took three of us to load one saddlebag. Everyone was panting for breath right after that. The lady who owned the tent suggested that we quickly move on from Pang, which would make us feel better.



Just ahead for us through the day were two main spots, namely the Moore Plains and Taglangla. Crossing that would get us to relatively lower altitudes and much closer to Leh. Finally, we saw light at the end of the tunnel.



Starting from Pang, we were welcomed by a small hill and some truck traffic along with its fumes. Allen still continued to be in front, and stopping as less as he could. Kiran followed closely with Apar and myself at the end spending time on photos. We thought climbing the hill would show us a couple of valleys and bring us back down like it took us up. But then, we were wrong. For a moment, we couldn’t believe our eyes. Taken aback by scene, we parked the bikes for a moment and looked around at the vast area of flat land that lay in front of us. For miles together, we would see nothing but, plain flat terrain. We realized that we’d reached the Moore Plains.





We had heard people talk about it and the fantastic pictures they used to bring back. I quickly looked at the GPS, which showed an altitude around 16,000 ft. There were no actual roads except for truck trails. However, there was quite some number of trucks visible now and then. None of them bothered to follow any of the tracks. They found it more comfortable to make one.

It was so tempting to wring the throttle and just zip past, but there were sand spots in random locations, which would certainly topple the bike if driven quite fast over them. We had to cruise at slower speeds. We stopped by in the middle of the cold desert for a couple of pictures and continued move on. We spotted a couple of dogs in a dry area and wondered how they even survived there. It took us about an hour to cross the entire desert land and then, we were back in the middle of mountains.



Watching the beautiful shades of brown, we kept progressing at a good speed. Slowly we were ascending some hill as the temperature was dropping pretty quickly. Moments later, I realized that it was the winds that was the reason for it. In some time, it also started snowing a little bit. We stopped by to take a break and enjoy the beauty. Kiran’s bike started struggling to climb by then. Allen was nowhere to be seen. He was right in front, in constant motion. It was the Taglangla Pass that we were ascending. The climb was becoming difficult by the minute due to the increasing altitude and temperature drop.



Just around a corner, Apar and I spotted the other two waiting beside some big machines trying to clear up the road. We realized that there was a landslide that had blocked the roads. They estimated a half and hour wait time for them to make the passage temporarily commutable. However, we managed to talk to them and get a sneaky path across. All of us were on full riding gear with as much protection we could have from the cold. But I was shocked to see the people working with bare hands in such cold conditions.







Struggling against the winds and altitude, we made it to the top of the Pass in another 10 to 15 minutes. The other 3 bikes parked it by the small stone structure that marked the top of the pass and began clicking pictures. I chose to click mine by the board that marked it. We were at somewhere around 17,500 ft. Allen walked up to me and said that he wasn’t too comfortable at that altitude and wanted to descend at the earliest. With most of us in the same condition, we decided to move on as quickly from there as we could. I was watching the GPS constantly to see if we made it below the 16,000 mark to get some rest. The moment we did, I overtook all the bikes and signaled a break. As we parked the bikes by the side of the passage, we noticed a puny RX-100 and Bajaj Chetak crossing us. We were awestruck that, these machines attempted these tough terrains.





The roads were slowly becoming better after we came below the 14,000 mark. There was tar. We targeted a place called Rumtse, for lunch. From about 10 kms away, the countdown began, we were that hungry. Very close to Rumtse started greenery and great roads. This wasn’t a big town, but something like a relatively big village. It had buildings and camping sites. We found a nice dhabha to settle down for lunch. Though such luxury was there, we ended sitting outside the dhabha in the sun for the lunch. Having been in much higher altitudes in the last 48 hours, we were finding the 14,000 feet a little hot!





We just moved from that place when a few foreigners landed there for lunch. The roads beyond Rumtse had nothing to complain about. They were so smooth that we could cover about 40 kms in an hour. Considering this speed, Leh wasn’t very far away. It was less than 2 hours from where we were.





The scenery that we saw en-route was stunning. We suddenly came across a few hills that were reddish pink in color. I believe it is because of the minerals they were rich in. We were beginning to see valleys and rivers running through them. One of my personal best was the Indus River and the Nuba valley. As we passed by this small place called Karu, we noticed that the road split; one of them went to Leh and the other one was going to Pangong Tso Lake. This was one of the lakes that we wanted to visit, but needs a permit that can be got only from Leh. So we had to go to Leh without having any second thoughts.







There were more canals and army area while we neared Leh. We stopped by the board that said “Wecome to Leh” to celebrate the moment we touched the place. We were so glad that we had finally made it sans all the surprises we had to face in the last few days. We had made it with a delay of 2 days, but it really never seemed to bother us that moment.



Leh had a lot of people, especially foreigners. We inquired our way into the town market to find out a decent place to stay. As we were asking a traffic cop for some good options, a guy saw us from a distance and drove down in his car. He said that he had rooms in his hotel and that he could cater to our budget. We followed his car to his hotel. Negotiating the prices, we were only disappointed that it didn’t have TV. The moment he knew that we then had second thoughts about staying there because of that reason, he immediately arranged for one.





It had been quite a while since we had taken a proper bath. So we requested him to provide us some hot water. Meanwhile, Allen and Kiran took Allen’s bike to a mechanic shop nearby to sort out the spark plug issue. They had left he bike there, agreeing to collect it the next day. The two mentioned that they met a bulleteer in the mechanic shop who gave them a compatible spark plug for Allen to use. I could see all the excitement in Allen’s face. After the refreshments, we regrouped in the room that had the TV, and enjoyed a slideshow of all pictures in the point and shoot camera.

Having used most of the buffer days we had, we now had to create some buffer time for the future. As per the new plan, we decided to pay off the hotel fellow some extra bucks, who agreed to get us a permit for visiting all the places that we wanted. We decided to spend that time on local sightseeing. We had allocated one day each for visiting Pangong Tso Lake and Khardung La.

After all the planning, we enjoyed a nice meal and crashed for the day.