Scaling new heights on a cycle

BENGALURU: Having ridden various mountainous trails in south India, I kept a lookout for something big to ride in the north. When I came across Punekar Amol Kalhapure's plan to have a cycling team to Khardung La, the world's highest motorable pass at 18,380ft, from Manali I signed up. I got an itinerary consisting of 580km covering Marhi, Zing Zing Bar and Whisky Nala before winding up at Leh.
The team consisted of people from different walks of life.While pharmacist Aditya Karande from Pune was a novice in cycling, retired DRDO scientist Adalat Ali from Hyderabad was a master at brevets (long-distance rides). Rishabh Jain, a gym trainer from Udaipur, showed his mettle throughout the expedition. Kalhapure had also roped in Delhi-based filmmaker Ayush Dinker to shoot the expedition.
BOVINE INCURSION
On day one, we set off on mountain bikes, cheered by schoolchildren and locals. We were heading to Marhi 36km away. As the uphill road wound its way out of Manali, we saw Beas river giving us company for some 10km.
Unlike in the Nilgiris and the Western Ghats, there is hardly any vegetation in the Himalayan range. Though there are boulders of all shapes and sizes, they offer no shelter from rain and some of our teammates got drenched.
As soon as I entered Marhi, I rushed to see the tents pitched in mountains, a new experience for me. One tent was for cooking and three were for the riders. The drizzle turned into a downpour, prompting us to settle into sleeping bags. A loud shout woke us up in the middle of the night: 'Tiwareeee, tent mein gai ghus gaya hain!'. Seeing a big bull raiding the kitchen, we all ran helter-skelter. After shooing it away, we realized that the tents were pitched on grazing land. There was also a yak nearby.
TRICKY ASCENT
Believing that the cyclists must get acclimatized to heights naturally, guide Aman Kumar suggested that we chew garlic. Our cook Tiwari offered to make a garlicky concoction as an alternative to pills for altitude sickness.
Armed thus, we took off on a cloudy day with low visibility. This was scary as the ghats were bereft of retaining walls, exposing us to the deep valleys. The highlight of the day's 53km-ride was crossing the Rohtang Pass. After reaching the summit, we had a tough time braving the chilly winds. The shaky hands could not even properly hold the camera to take photos at 13,058ft.
The 12km descent from Rohtang to Koksar was also difficult due to ongoing road work. We tried to avoid the loose gravel while negotiating the steep curves as one wrong step could even turn fatal. The riders had to stand on the pedals, while tightly holding the handlebar, leaving us with achy wrists or shoulders.
However, the road from Koksar to Sissu, the day's destination, had mind-blowing views. Even the camp site near a waterfall was soothing with the guide singing ghazals by the campfire. Tiwari doubled as a masseur on occasions.
COMFY DHABAS
Gravel and dust continued to challenge the cyclists on day three of the expedition. But all along, bikers cheered cyclists and we promptly waved back.
The 40km ride from Jispa to Zing Zing Bar (ZZB) was uneventful. As we proceeded towards Leh, the sightings of snow-capped mountains became more frequent. At ZZB we saw a spacious dhaba with cots and thick blankets for riders to relax. We retired there and later realized that such dhabas are common in the mountains. They served sandwich, omelets, noodles, momos and tea. As our diet mostly comprised of stuffed paratha-pickle and rice-dal, it felt good to indulge in dhaba fare.
COPING WITH FLATS
After an ascent to Baralacha La (another pass at 4,850m), we encountered possibly the worst road that led to Sarchu. I had my first flat. I got it fixed but another flat stopped me again. This time, I replaced my cycle with a spare and continued. Yet again, the views saved the day. The last 10km leading to Sarchu was so scenic that they put the Grand Canyon to shame. While the America's natural wonder has monotonous rock formation, the ones here have a combo of soil and rock formations.
Karande, having pushed himself too hard to climb 21 Gata loops, caught fever. Altitude too added to his misery. Covering the 21 hairpin bends was equivalent to climbing Nandi Hills (near Bengaluru) back-to-back five times. Ali suffered from acidity, which he blamed on 'over consumption' of tea. But this disciplined 63-year-old rider recovered in a couple of days and inspired us with his never-give-up attitude.
BONDING WITH NATURE
After reaching Lachung La (16,616ft), what followed was a deserted stretch up to Pang. As I entered the military base here to make an STD call to home, I missed out on my daily lunchbox from the support staff. After a steep climb of 10km, I encountered a flat road of 40km up to Debring, the day's destination. The road rolled out like a smooth carpet and I made the most of it till headwinds played spoilsport. With no lunch, I had to make do with dry fruits. Since I also ran out of water, I stopped a car and got it from tourists, who kindly gave me some biscuits.
MUSIC AND MIND GAMES
We were prepared to take on the mountain that would take us to Tanglang La, the second-highest motorable pass in the world at 17,532ft. But Karande felt uneasy because of low oxygen and asked me to walk along with him. I played some of his favourite songs from my music player, and this charged him up. Not only did he ride fast to Tanglang La and became part of the photo op at the summit, he also rolled downhill for 35km to reach Rumpste.
The last day was the real test of endurance. We had to climb the dreaded mountains to take us to Khardung La located 40km from Leh. It seemed never-ending what with road-widening works adding to the delay. The last seven kilometres were the toughest. A series of bizarre questions popped into my head: 'What I'm doing here?’, 'Will I make it?', 'If I don’t, does it amount to failing in an exam?'. However, the body kept moving towards the summit. I realised that there was nothing in my control –– legs kept pedalling while eyes had a blank vision of the road ahead. As I entered the peak, hundreds of bikers gave me the thumbs-up, and screamed 'congrats'. It felt like a dream.
Gym trainer Jain, who had already reached, gave a shout-out. But first, I went to a nearby temple and thanked the almighty for keeping me in one piece. After the other teammates arrived, the photo session began. Hugs and hurrahs rent the air atop the world's highest motorable pass.