Cycling from Manali to Leh, 2013

"When I go biking I am mentally far far away from civilization. 

The world is breaking someone else's heart." - Diane Ackerman 

Introduction

My friend Gaurav Gupta finished this trip solo last year, inspiring me to do it this year. Bicycle was bought 2 months (June)  prior to expected travel dates, along with joining cycling groups on Facebook. Did cycling trips with Noida Cycling Club, Noida Cyclists and Cyclofit, all trained me well for the trip, thanks to all the members who guided me (max. distance 100km in 4 hrs). In addition, I try to keep myself fit through variety of exercise regimes, Insanity by Shaun T (my favorite), Gymming, Running and Yoga (P90X), hence fitness was not too much of a concern for me, pain in the ass was, quite literelly, due to cycling for long durations. After posting on numerous FB threads asking for partners for this trip, and being unsuccessful, I decided to do this trip all alone, told my mother and sister it is not a big deal, if Gaurav can do it, I too can. Puncture repairing, disc brake maintenance, derailleur troubleshooting and chain cleaning video tutorials were watched quite vigourously and comprehensively on youtube, all theory no practical. Belief in the God is a big thing.

Day 0 - 9th August

Got my cycle packed by Rajesh cycles for free (gem of a person he is), along with accessories bought, the previous evening. Had to leave the meeting with the CEO of my company to catch Indo Canadian bus to Manali. Got my cycle into my sister's Santro car, said goodbyes to mother, off we went, my sister left me at Majnu ka Tilla gurudwara, where the bus starts. Packed cycle got into luggage space of bus quite comfortably, no money talks, all good. Got a seat in front, all alone, thanks to god, quarter of vodka (had packed in bag already)  was opened post Delhi Cant, and life got only wonderful after that. Bus stopped at Rajpura, Bar and Rest...sign attracted me like magnet, two Old Monk pegs with Dal makhani and rice, and whole journey got wonderfull after that. Woke up at night around 1 or 2 at chandigarh, hearing long haired guy speaking with conductor and driver about seat numbering, got shifted with a girl who was alone too like me. Girl slept on my shoulder may be during early hours of morning, left just before Manali, thats when long haired guy sat along with me and I heard conductor talking in punjabi to driver how they would fleece 800 out of him for his cycle.

CYCLE !!!! Did I hear CYCLE !!! In this early morning drunken state !!!

I asked the long haired guy next to me if he has cycle, he said yes, I was like, WTF ! 

I asked where he was going, he said Manali to Leh !!! Ohh yes, Manali to fucking Leh !!! 

I asked the long haired guy what dates, he said tomorrow they leave, i.e. 10th August, 

For a moment I thanked god that at last I found a cycling partners on the bus, then the long haired guy told me he had done All India Cycling trip two years back, thats when I thought it was too good to be true, but nevertheless, I tagged along with him, very interesting guy, Krishna is his name.

So Krishna, who is from Mysore, does Yoga, martial arts, teaches mountain biking, has done Insanity workout, HMI beginners as well as advanced course and has cycled all over India and his gang consisting of Sahana, his childhood friend from Mysore, has done Insanity and is quite fit, Rajiv, Krishna's HMI's batchmate, from Bombay and Kamakshi, delhi girl, Krishna's HMI's advance coursemate, returning from Climbathon (read about it), shall all meet in Manali and then start their journey. They offered me to join them, which I very kindly accepted (thanking god)

Cheap hotel in old manali, sort of mini trek even getting to rooms, imagine taking your cycles up there, rs 400/night with an amazing view, awesome I say ! Cycles were assembled with the help of Krishna, no sign of Kamakshi, supposed to return from mountains on 9th, to start journey  on 10th August. Evening spent shopping around waterproof pajama and Keen sandals, wonderful advices from Arvind of red chillin adventures.

Dinner with Krishna, Sahana and Rajiv, no sign of their fourth partner, few beers down and nice sleep, Manali is indeed a nice town to spend a few nights in.

Day 1

Krishna and party postponed their plans since their fourth partner came late the previoud night and needed to buy/rent bicycle on 10th itself. 

This was a decisive moment for me, shall I start all alone or tag along with Krishna's team and wait one more day? 

I decided to go solo and start on 10th as decided, Krishna and team gave me thumbs up for my bravery(stupidity) and off I went, Manali to Marhi (35 km), first time cycling on hills, and most importantly first time cycling with the load on the cycle , ALL (FUCKING) ALONE.

First few KMs were all fine, after 30-45minutes into journey I started to feel the heat, journey was indeed difficult, but took my own merry time, since first day, was all healthy and fit, even uphill seemed easy little perspiring though. Had lunch before koti, witnessed beautiful landscape, with stupid tourist who bought snow clothings for rohtang pass in August.

Day 4  (Patseo - Sarchu)

One of those days when one starts questioning own judgment and choices made in life. Tough would be an understatement, dreadful wouldn't be strong either.
Woke up to the view like this, after spending the night in that blue tent, first night of the trip in the wilderness.

After a hefty breakfast of paranthas with omelet and paying even heftier fee for the tent, started off for Sarchu at around 8 a.m. Agreed to oblige one of the photogenic Kollywood heroes (judged by the hundreds of photos he was taking of himself), by posing with him for a photograph, glad he seemed with my gesture of kindness.
Don't know why but peddling seemed quite hard today. Reaching ZingZing Bar took almost 3 hours, unimaginable number for mere 10KMs which made me wondering if the day was going to be rough, indeed it was. The vegetation had diminished to almost negligible and the cold became more piercing. Dire circumstances need dire measures, the roads were long and winding, short cut was in front of me, Red Bull came to the rescue. I cycled only few metres on the shortcut after which only dragging the cycle by foot was possible. I might have saved two or three KM of cycling on road by dragging cycle up few hundreds metres, which by the way were painstakingly steep, but by now Red Bull effect had certainly gone. You may notice a path going up on extreme right of this picture, that was the shortcut.

After promising myself not to take any more shortcut, I rode on the road only, very uncomfortably. The day was indeed gloomy, didn't meet any villagers, very few thumbs up and even fewer photos were taken of me and it was getting more cold with every passing KM. My original plan was to reach Baralacha La at around 12 or 1 pm (30 km in 4 hours, no big deal) but here I was, peeing at the road side at 1 pm, still 8-10 KM away from the top, trucks passing by me merrily. First time during the trip, image of me peddling in the twilight, soaking wet in chilly rain, started shadowing my mind. I was told by many, weather gets real bad around the passes after 3-4 pm.