2 weeks biking - help needed

chinmayie

Hi my husband and I want to take 2 weeks off and head to Himachal for a biking trip in July. We are from Bangalore (south)

I had a few questions to ask:

We both are not at all regular bikers. We are right now thinking of hiring a bike in Delhi.. Which would be the best route for us? We don’t want to get too adventurous as I would not say we are particularly fit and this is our first long biking trip.
Considering that it’ll be raining and we’ll be two people on one bike which is the best part of Himachal to visit now. We have already been to Shimla, Naggar, Manali, Dharamshala so we would like to avoid that route.
I came across this route in Kinnaur and Spiti –
Shimla – Saharan – Sangla – Chitkul – Kalpa – Chango – Nako – tabo – Kibber
I don’t know how touch this route is and don’t even know how long it’ll take!!

Can anybody please suggest me any other routes considering the facts I have mentioned?

Will it be better to head to shimla by train/bus and hire a bike there so that we can cut down on biking distance? Does anybody know a reliable person to rent the bikes out from? We don’t want to spend much so we don’t want a fancy bike.

Thank you in advance.

mira4bai4

There are no places to hire bikes in Shimla but possibly if you know anyone they may hire their bike to you or track a private one down.

chinmayie

Thank you mira4bai4. i think i need to make some friends in shimla...

shubho

i suggest you buy a trek from firefox/gurgaon in delhi.
save you a lot of bother.

edwardseco

Shubho is right about the relative ease of buying..

sudiptodg

Chinmayie, I think you must be planning to go on a motorcycle and not a bicycle. In that case, buying would be out of the question. As far as I know, bicycles that are good enough for touring on are not available for rent in Shimla. I am not sure about motorcycles. I have been on parts of the route you are planning a couple of times over the last few years. I cannot comment on using a motorcycle on this route, because I went on a bicycle, but there are some points I feel you could consider.

You would need a powerful motorcycle considering two people, especially on certain sections of the route.

Depending on what you decide to carry with you, you would need to have some pannier or similar arrangement on the motorcycle. That option may again be limited by your being two people on a motorcycle and may be difficult if you decide to hire/borrow a motorcycle (As also on a bicycle).

In July rains might cause some difficulty (you will find many posts in this forum regarding that) in sections of this route. Both times I went, it was after the worst of the monsoon was over. Upper Kinnaur and Spiti may be okay in July, but the lower parts of Kinnaur would see a lot of rain/landslides at this time of the year.

However, to get an idea of the difficulty/otherwise of the route, you might like to read my account of my two trips:
http://sudipto.dg.googlepages.com

Dilliwala

Yes, I was wondering about that myself, i.e. 2 people on one bicycle!
Motorcycle sounds a lot more plausible.

chinmayie

Hehehee… sorry guys I meant ‘motorbike’
I was thinking of going through only hoping we can go there by train and hire a motorbike there.

Can anybody help me with a bike in shimla???
If we have to take the bike from Delhi we will probably just skip Simla altogether.

Then I think we’ll just go to Nahan – Chail – Rajgarh - Rohru – Narkanda – Sarahan (with stops wherever needed).

In case we don’t fell up to we might just stay in Narkanda and head to the Kullu valley. I am still trying to get more info on Jalori Pass. I would love to spend some time in Kullu valley as well, Will probably go to Shoja, Kasol, and Naggar.

Can anybody tell me a little more about Jalori pass? why do people go to Manali only through Mandi? Is there any particular reason for avoiding Jalori pass other than Mandi being through the national highway??

If we make it to Sarahan, we’ll probably try to go till Sangla and Chitkul.

What do you guys think?

Dilliwala

If you've cross-checked this route against the map, you'll have noticed that it basically zigzags across southern HP. A more 'efficient' route wud be - Nahan-Rajgarh-Chail-Kufri-Narkanda.
In which connection, I think you shud hire in Delhi and then go (after above) - Narkanda-Sainj-Jalori/Shoja area.

Here are some threads on the Jalori route that will interest you.
People go via Mandi becos it's shorter and faster. And Jalori is closed sometimes.