An experience with my BIKE

avinashzalake

An experience with my BIKE

“No Dream is TOO Big”
In our journey of Lahaul & Spiti Valley, We read this many times on walls of Jaypee Group constructions.
(Jaypee Group is constructing mega Dams, Tunnels, power projects in Himachal Pradesh. Really they are doing magic there. It will come to know only when you visit there & realize the adversities. )
We dedicate our journey to those beautiful peoples, snow laden ice peaks, roads with full of challenges, our military & many others.

Our journey on bike to Lahaul & Spiti Valley
Journey!!!!!!
It was the test of our Endurance, Mind strength, will power, physical fitness, Determination, patience & much more.

As I stated at start “ No dream is too Big”
I started dreaming something big after my few bike trips to Dandeli, Sirsi & around. Bike trips started as some relaxation from mentally stressful life, to relax with nature, Liking of travel, easy & economical mode of transport & mind of some adventure.
But for this long trip it is really big dream for me, so I started preparation around 4 – 6 months prior. Preparations includes collecting maps, stay options, economical aspects, petrol estimation, prices of petrol at different states, bike preparation, monsoon forecast, weather condition, getting friends for trip, experience of previous peoples, distances to be traveled, planning of trip, List was too lengthy. But our enthusiasm, some daily efforts helped us to cut items on preparation list.
Preparations come to end 1- 2 months prior to due date. Now major uphill task was in front of us.
Appearing for theory exam is totally different from giving actually practical exam. But we were ready for it with good confidence.
Most important to mention is Encouragement from My Papa & Sanu’s Papa was really great, increasing our moral support to higher & higher Level. Big salute to them with out which our trip can not be started.
Are we trying something different??
Is it really impossible ???
Is it first of all efforts ??
We were not trying something different; many had done it on bike. Lahaul & spiti Valley, Ladakh is called biker’s Paradise. So Many young enthusiasts’, foreigners rush to theses valleys for their dream to realize. Many had done longer trips than this on bike. So we were not trying something different, We were doing an effort to realize our dream, to make something possible, to achieve one of our life movement.
Few hiccoughs prior to start-
Exams finished, Sanu on the spot, Bike Made fantastic with good efforts from our mechanic Yuvraj. Only problem with bike was it’s power, but we were happy with it, previous discussions had given full stop for it as we were not comfortable with Bullet.

First simple task was to reach Delhi. For us It is very simple, Bike for 4 days, You will be in Delhi. In one of our previous preparation trip we touched NH 8 from our native place in a day.
Day 1 –
Bike pooja & arati was done very early morning.
Kanad was jumping towards me for his bike addiction.
One day both of us will do it on our mountain bikes.
Let Set & Go,
Early morning started with luggage problem. We were not at all comfortable with our luggage packing. Once we reached NH 4 near Kolhapur, Luggage was repacked. It was seeing very nice & funny also to see that we were spreaded our tadapatri at side of NH 4, & we are dealing with our luggage. Every thing tied in tadapatri. ( a last minute suggestion from Papa Which helped us through out our trip ). After few kms some more problem with luggage, bungee cord loosening & loosening, one more un necessary break, Forced us for Break. OK It was something major that we have to deal with it; otherwise it will be the problem of whole trip. Now rope comes in to action to fix luggage perfectly. It doesn’t disturbed us even on worst roads of Kunzum La . After Satara Tea break was taken. One more break prior to pune to take some rest. Now bike & we roared in action, to take next break only after Lonavala Khandala , Lunch Break. This was the best lunch of our trip as described by Sanu some 15 days later near Kaza. What we ate was home food – Chapati & Sanu evertime pet zunaka & dhahi bhat ( curd rice ). We reached Nerul around 4.45 pm to 5 pm. One more full breakfast of dosa, batata wada, jalebi. We bought new sack, pouch. SBI balance checked, We short
listed How to reach NH 8 from Nerul from our data. Much awaited sleep after good dinner.
Total running of a day around 400 km
Problem faced – luggage packing & tie up
Good ride – as usual near Lonavala

Day 2 –
D 2 started early in the morning 6.15 am after kandapohe & Tea. We were totally new to area. First aim is to reach out of Mumbai, Palm Beach Road, Airoli bridge, Eastern express way, & then known Ghodbunder road, to NH 8.
Easy task as compare to our previous hectic journey on this road. Somewhat awaited first break came after around 160 kms non stop. Road was good, almost four lane stretch. Just to leave expressway & to join double lane road after Vadodara. Night halt at Anand dream of our MILK MAN. Good dinner at road side hotel.
Around 450 -500 km running today. Some stress at after noon. No major hiccoughs today. Enquired & checked by Gujrat Police on way. But our plan trip keep them stunned for some movements, for us it was just start of our trip. We were happy with going.

avinashzalake

Day 3 –
It was long run around 600 km. Day started quite early in the morning around 5.30 am. One more long start run up of around 160- 170 kms. Quite good coverage of distance around 300 km up to 10 am. Then heat really comes in to action. We are much disturbed by heat, double lane road after Udaipur. Not getting place for stay on road so it forced us to enter Ajmer. We got some what bad dinner. Sanu was not at all happy with food. His mood swinged. Not willing for fruits also ! My mind disturbed some what. We got very good sleep. Water cooler in room worked very nicely.
Maximum single day running of trip.
Heat started showing it’s effect.

Day 4-
We have to reach Delhi today. Day started with good comfort. We visited Ajmer dargah. We got worst experience of commercialization. Each & every one in dargah was interested in only money. Some one took my head & touched it to holy place & started demanding money !!! What a bad thing ! They had made it worst of this Holy place. We started with double lane road, congested traffic, trucks. Soon we delighted to see six lane road upto Jaipur. Then sun & heat really comes into action. Asking us to take frequent breaks, But we were ready for that, because we were reaching Delhi today. Full Traffic jam near Gudgaon, But Service road helped us lot to relive us, With some road confusion we reached at our sister’s place. We all were happy. Home phones ringed. Sanu Delighted a lot to eat zunaka !!! His ever time pet.

OccasionalTraveller

Man I envy you.. I can only dream about such a long trip

Waiting for the Lahaul - Spiti writeup,

avinashzalake

Day 5 –
Rest day ! Hurray………………
Bike servicing done. Bought new canon A 470 !
Good one, wandered here & there in Asia’s longest Moll At Gudgaon.
We planned to spend at least 4- 5 days here, in our return journey.
Planned to move tomorrow, as destinations are calling! Our sister was not happy with that.
Now 25 % trip was over, real trip was waiting for us. Our over enthusiasm also forcing us to start next trip.
My oral cavity now showing some signs of aphthous ulcers (oral ulcers), mostly because of heat. Tomorrow’s plan was to start after good sleep.

Day 6 –
Reality started, we left sister’s home very early around 3.45 am. Kenacort ointment had done its job nicely to heal my oral cavity. Traffic diversions confusing us, for some time we were another road than towards Dhaula Koua, But with few confusions we reached ring road. Not a single board was there to mention direction of ring road! Worst direction system & boards !! We relied some what on map & asking direction for Ambala. Heavy Traffic Jam forced on ring road jam of 1-2 hrs at morn around 4.30 am !!!
We joined GT road some what late as expectations, New 6 laning in progress, decreased our pace.
By exhaustion we forced to take break at 6 am. Only 56km distance traveled. We took tea at Pahlwan the DHABA. New boost received, road condition improved, We again started roaring, Next break at petrol pump. We finished our morning job. We were very happy to empty our large intestine contents at INDIAN toilet. Still I am not knowing how they pass their stools at commode !! this was the best relief for us in 6 days !!!
Soon we reached Ambala cant ,then to Chandigarh, Took right turn to Shimla. Now We were on our road. But road broadening, traffic, & one more call from stomach decreasing pace. Later we come to know about recent accident near Kalka Mandir was the reason for traffic jam. Now we were on ghat sections, this is the start of bends & mighty curves, ascends & descends, risk & only risk. Each & every second Sharp attention, full care, total precautions needed. One simple mistake will straightway throw you in deep valley.
Where ever you see unimaginable nature was there to welcome us. We were very happy to see it around.
Some cold in the atmosphere was boosting us, because heat fatigued us lot. We took one break in amidst of trees & streams for a lunch. Once again zunaka & chapatti. We were planned to bypass Shimla, so took the road to Chail. Real road challenge started, this was the only start, a lot was ahead of us, traffic decreased drastically as expectation. We were passing in between pine trees, around the curves, nature was so beautiful, this was the just start !!!
5 km prior to Chail, we took turn to Kufri, awaited help from police on duty. Now our body was demanding rest, todays target was Matiana / Narkanda. But we have to halt some what prior to that. At Kufri we joined NH 21 once again. Road improved some what, After 4 kms at Fagu we rested ourselves in roadside guest house – Rs. 300/- for a halt-, No Gyser, but hot water provided in bucket. Dinner was dal bhat with chapatti acceptable.
We done some evening walk, nature around was charming, mountains with full greenery, road shining in between, deep valleys , AMAZING AMAZING !!!!! AMAZING
Some clicks around room. For tomorrow we have to reach to Chitkul. Now here onwards distance doesn’t matter, What matter was time of journey.
On some prior days we had covered upto 600km in a day on planes, Here 200 -300 km was more than that. So now onwards we started asking How much time will it take ??

Today we entered in to another world of beauty, challenge & Test of our capacity of both mind & body.
Traffic jam at Delhi & after Chandigarh were only disturbances today for us.
Now onwards each & every meter covered by us, will be best ride.

avinashzalake

Day 7-
Morning started somewhat early around 6.30 am,
Bike was not willing to start, it showing first time reluctance! My worry rising, Luckily we were on descend. Sanu decided to give push & start. Oh, My God It worked. Bike started. Reason what we thought was may because of cold ??
Road was good at start. Now we were almost on descend & Descend fro kms & kms . First break came at Start Stluj view. We were much delighted to see Sutlaj. Unimaginable !! That roaring river, road along side, beautiful nature surrounding, on top of that we were on our bike. Soon after some time that Hanging bridge we had seen !!! We had seen only in picture was in front of us. Though we are not supposed to travel on it, we took a break to visit it, & we witnessed sumo traveling on it, & that bridge moving horizontally !! wooden boards giving their typical sound ! Great Salute to engineers & workers! Later on we passed on many large such bridges. But impression of that first bridge was something different.
Village after village we were enjoying beauty & beauty . One thing I forgotten to mention was We fulled our tank at Narkanda, asked to pump owner “ What is the possibility that we will get petrol at Powari ? ” He answered—“ Sir better to full tank because – do din se Kinnaur dry chal raha hai.” On our list next petrol pump was at Powari, but we found 3- 4 pumps upto Powari. We not enquired about there present status.
Sorry because I distracted from nature some what, but petrol we must mention.
So to continue every 30 to 40 kms nature changing completely, yesterday we were enjoying forests & mountains, then Sutlaj along side, then rocky mountains, each & every aspect was great, We can not describe it in words ! Again we started on ascend. Now from 900 mtrs We have to push ourselves to 3500 mtrs of Chitkul.
With in few ours We noticed ice peaks ! First Live ice peaks of our life we delighted & delighted, dancing to see it, clicking & clicking, good break of our journey, then We started once again. Soon we come across that famous cutted mountain road ! Hanging mountain on road ! you have to pass below it ! May be sharp turn ahead having some truck !! You have to be too care full about it !! road was not that good , near valley side there was no obstacles !!!!! ( later on this was routine ) CARE , CARE , Care that was only in our hands, Take deep breath & pass it ! some relief, next danger in front of us, next was ready, next – next – next to continue. But we got habituated to it, precautions precautions, horn, horn horn !! that was what we were doing. On the top it all board along side mention “ aage pathar girate hai, dheere chalo”
“ It’s crime, If you don’t blow horn at turn- Kinnaur Police”
Jaypee constructions started to show us their miraculous jobs ! You are passing by World’s longest power tunnel !! High tension wire near by !! electricity what they are generating from roarings of sutlaj & other rivers. Unimaginable !
“ No Dream is too big ”
Our moral was boosting some what after reading that. Afternoon bananas & laddoo for lunch, We have to reach to Chitkul, not sure about road conditions. About 44 kms from main road. Late afternoon we left Karcham, confirmed road with the guard there, now ascend & ascend. First to reach Sangla then Chitkul. Ascend road full of U bends , We reached Sangla, but we continued to ascend to Chitkul, Full DUST ROAD ASCEND !! Sanu get down from bike, gave some support from backside, bike slipping, stopped once on vertical ascend! But Sanu & I managed to come over it!! CHEERS , CHEERS Yes We had done it , what was in our mind of that time. Wow! beauty of nature roaring & roaring surround us, Those Ice peaks around, greenery around , snow laden mountains, & much more
We were also some what relaxed mood to enjoy that because we were reaching Chitkul our destination with in time , road was better than expectation. Then come first nallah of our journey , we easily passed through it, Sanu was there to click that movement to show others what we had done ! one more break to click ice peaks around ! & some rest. We reached Chitkul around 4 to 4.30 pm. the first right side one guest room we enquired 200 bucks only!! They started GH this year only!! Room was good with blankets, no geyser, good bathroom, good views, (their owner was went to buy geyser & mattress )
We just wandered in village to look for some other GH. But that first one was best for its price & comfort ability. We checked in that. We became fresh & entered the village
LAST village of INDIA, Tibet border was just 20 -25 km from there. Young guys volleying volleyball. so much cold around & they are playing with Volleyball ? We saw then known floor mill running on running water. Thapa care taker of GH prepared dal chaval, potato sabji , chapatti for us, till that Sanu taken good snap. Food was ok , after that we went to bed. Exhausting day today, Not sure what to do tomorrow?? to proceed or Take rest at Chitkul only ? We was in favor of to take rest, we was in love with that icy mountains surrounding us, that charming nature, where are we?? Only 2 days prior we were at Delhi sweating ourselves to maximum! We were at Hindustan ka akhari dhaba !! mentioned at one Dhaba of that beautiful village.
What we enjoyed today was beauty, beauty & only beauty.
Our real trip was started. Road challenges started, We started crossing nallahas ! Vertical ascends ! & nature nature
Real challenge of the day was to ascend on Full DUSTY Ascend, Bike slipping at that time, deepest valley on one side, board mentioning-“pathar girate hai ” Deep breaths & Deep breaths !!! & cheers after that- Hurray--------

Jay_J

Wow..!!

Well done...!!

Good to hear that you've had a good ride so far

do share more and also post the pics...

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http://raahitrails.fotopic.net - Ladakh & Spiti ride - LKM 2008
http://raahi.fotopic.net - Ladakh ride - LKM 2006
http://yaadein.fotopic.net - Rides in and around Gujarat & Himachal Pradesh
http://jugaad.fotopic.net- Ride to Arunachal Pradesh
http://www.60kph.com

avinashzalake

Day 8---
We got up early in the morning. Around 8 am ! ( as previous plan was to rest till 12 noon ). What we fill was rest was adequate to proceed further. There was dry sunny day out. Ice peaks gloried with that fresh sunlight giving us better view of it, saying us ye, here I am for you! All that freshed us lot. So we decided to proceed further. Next destination as plan was Kalpa, but we decided to skip it, because nature will be same somewhat there. So packing was done. Good bye to India’s last village. One I will come with my family here. Bright sunny helped my splendor to quick start, small run to charge machine. Luggage packed on it’s back. Let set go-
Around 44 km to join NH 21. But major road will be descend. So we have no problem. Sanlga passed. Dusty road cleared with experience. Soon we joined Nh 21. Next now we have to go other side of river. We stopped to clear coming vehicle for other side of bridge. Then we cleared bridge, military trucks waiting for us to clear bridge. A Soldier Patil S. B. came towards me saying “ namaskar sahib” We delighted to here marathi from some other one. He was From Gadhinglaj Same KOLHAPUR DISTRICT. He enquired us lot. Asked us whether have you any problem ?? How is bike?? Any problem ?? fell free to contact. We are here at Karcham. Good no. of marathi peoples are here.
A big SALUTE TO him & His colleagues.
Now once again we rejoined dam, power, energy, construction- No dream is too big.
At powari petrol pump was dry. He told us to fill at Reckong peo ( city with all second number work, jua, sharab, & other bad things as told by thapa of Chitkul GH) We continued on road. Reckong peo means to enter 5 k from NH 21, We calculated petrol estimation. Our splendor on full tank will go upto 600 kms. We filled tanks at Narkanda, plus 90 km of to & fro Chitkul, then it will be ok, It was sufficient than upto Kaza. It was calculated risk on much safer side.
One side board mentioned “aage pani ke sathh pathar bhi girate hai ”
Great job by Jaypee
Now by BRO that- Border Road Organization.
They were continuously fighting with all natural calamities. Rain, snow, streams, pathar, worst climate, roaring rivers along side, on top of that they mentions – inconvenience regretted!
BRO because of you only we were there & here also
Road ahead mentions-
“Prabhu ko yad rakho”
“Bachhe apaki pratiksha mai hai”
Don’t mix whisky with risky
“Ek jawan ki takat tej chalane me nahi, tej doudane mai hoti hai”
& much more to warn us & keep reminding us of our family
Road means -- pathar mai se chalo, pani me se chalo, dust me se chalo, chalate raho., roaring river along with one side in deep valley, peaking mountains on one side, & road
Ahhhaaa! But we were going one by one. Not major problem any where, precautions & care!
We heard blast!! That sounds repeating & repeating struggling with mountains. Poori phat gayi !! are we in blast time ?? no other vehicles on road ?? IS it blast time ?? We keep on going soon a board relived us lot mentioning time of blast & blast area finishes with that board. We were not in blast time, Blasts were occurring at distant place from us. Sound that frightened us.
Simple entry twice to check post on the way give some time of relaxation from biking also.
A big SALUTE to BRO & those brave mans who lost their lives for constructing bridges, roads for us & our military
“When you go home tell them for your tomorrow, we had given our today” Really I become emotional with some tears while reading list of brave BRO soldiers who lost their lives. Lives are not only lost at battle field but for keep prepared for battle also.
Great salute.

Once again nature changed. We were now passing through sky kissing Rocky Mountains, river in deep valley, & distant ice peaks, once again un imaginable. Best best views, click any where you will get view of that beauty. On one ascend we were going U LOOPS, on one bend I am seeing Military truck coming from other side, Sanu had totally ignored it & We landed completely in front of that truck !!! Now onwards whatever obstacles or boards we were keep cross checking with one another. This was only hiccough for us in our whole journey from traffic. Body started showing signs of fatigue ness, Tabo was around 60 km ahead, beside that we have to cross
Famous ( INFAMOUS ! ) Malling Nalha- pagal one. Passing through some apple trees we reached Nako top, Beautiful Helipad along side, We entered talab village . We decided to halt at this beautiful place on earth. Started hunting for rest room. Charges 600 – 900, they are saying it whatever in mind. We settled in one GH. 300 bucks, this was the minimum rate after final bargaining. Later come to know from owner that it is decision of union. We have no option for it. We settled in few time, & entered village. We don’t liked beauty of talab, I don’t know why. This was best village we had seen. We liked its beauty. That stone homes, that monastery, those innocent peoples & children. Whenever you click photo of them they will come to you & start shouting dikhaoo dikhaoo. & they become very happy to see their faces.
Surrounding ice peaks, mountains wowwwwwww……
We took our dinner same dal rice, chapatti, potato sabji. Ok palatable.
We went to bed. We liked this village very much. In all total we were happy to choosing this as our destination. We witnessed magnificent movements, nature of our life. No major problem today.
Each & every meter of our journey was THE BEST ride today. We admired it lot & keep admiring, & will keep admiring.
Hats off to our military, BRO. because of whom we were living at our homes safely. From Chitkul they have to take ration with help of donkeys, on feet almost 25kms. Same will be the situations at other places. Sach mai They are doing great job. Salute to them.
Road was challenge full, But we don’t have problem with it. Workers keep on working to make clear road from frequent landslides.

avinashzalake

Day 9 –
It is our luck that our morning started in Nako in amidst of beauty. Repeatedly we were realizing we were lucky that we born in India & we came here in our lifetime. Every Indian must enjoy it once in lifetime. Morning sunlight giving golden heights to those ice peaks increasing their beauty. Unimaginable ! We have to keep going. No network coverage. STDs were off due to some cable problem. We were worried to inform our family members. Next villages were same condition.
We started journey with cup of tea. Foreigners who stayed our next room was also our accompanist till Tabo. Delhi bikers halted somewhere back, may in tent.
We keep on going, ups & down, streamy road, thanks to BRO they constructed new road to Tabo which drastically decreased pagal effects of Malling Nalha.
Now we came near to river from top view. Once again nature changed, wide spread river bed, river roaring through it. Stones, rocks, ground, river, much more. Now dusty mountains with typical views start showing us their beauty. We reached Tabo. Monastery, we prayed . Here we see two bicyclers from Israel, they came from Manali. Opposite way to us. Great one !
After half hour rest, we left for Kaza, petrol turned to reserve situation. Kaza was 46 km ahead so we were in relaxed mood about that. We keep going ups & down, bad road, un imaginable nature. Somewhat 15 to 17 km prior petrol mark started showing zero. Aaaaaha phat gayi, phat gayi, re, our calculations showed that you are totally wrong, at that time we were not carrying extra petrol, other bikers not in view. What was in our hand to keep going upto maximum. Machine was kept off at descend. Now some relief there was plain road, so less petrol requirement. Started counting km by km. 15, 14,13,12,11, 10……… We never counted such in our journey. Now it forced us to that. Mind completely distracted from nature & every thing. Now possibilities---
1. petrol finish around 7-8 kms prior. – option with us keep bike aside road both go to Kaza & came back.
2. prior 2-3 kms. Give push to bike, but it will not be easy task at this high altitude. Because 15- 20 steps at that height keep us gasping for breath.
3. Borrow some petrol if any other bike /car we sight.
4. bike upto KAZA pump.
We keep going, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, Now it will be the push !!
Sanu asked me, I told keep going, By Luck, at that time there was plain road, machine at fourth gear, and speed at 40 to 50 km. perfect for minimal petrol consumption with maximum coverage of distance. 2, 1 , & finally 0 aaha
Now Petrol Pump we have to go still some 1 km for it. But now we were relaxed because we were very near to it. We reached petrol pump. Yes ! greatest relief ! isne to poori ki poori phad di thi. Lunch break at petrol. It will open at 3 o’clock. I keep Sanu there & I entered city for telephone. No light, so I wandered for almost half hour. But it was necessary to inform at home that we were safe. At last I ringed Sonali. Then I came back to Sanu. He filled petrol manually! He was very happy to rotate that Handle behind pump to pump petrol into our bike. We enquired about how much time will at take to & fro for Kibber, second / third highest village connected by road & electricity. Some over enthusiast told us only hour. So we decided to continue, Sanu at ascend, thik tak, With in few mins at village We returned back. Descend by me, BRAKES, BRAKES, brake……….. If you don’t apply it with sufficient pressure you will be straight way thrown from 4000 + meters in deep valley. We both conquered with our up till experience. We came back to Kaza. GH haunting started. We settled in one for 250 bucks. Then we rush to market. Our card of camera needs to be transferred to pen drive. We did it with shop owner’s help. More calls to home to convey our well beings. Some what bad food at dinner. Went to bed. Up till now very less signs of Acute mountain sickness.
For tomorrow target was to reach at Losar . only 50 kms from Kaza. Beause road from Losar onwards was not in good condition.
Most hiccough of day was petrol! We enjoyed lot except some tension movements of petrol. Road now we became acclimatized to that. & worst road of our trip was day after tomorrow. So we have to keep it up. Kaza was good village, lot of foreigners, because main village in that area.

avinashzalake

Day 10-
Late start. Only 60 km biking today. Left kaza at 11.30 am. Road was good with some bad patches. At one point we noticed snow is very near to us. Sanu desire to be in ice keeping him irresistible to trek. I also thought- get a try. That trek must be of half hour, what we thought !! real experience was worst ! we have to take breaks frequently & frequently. Ascend become not possible for me. I stopped somewhat half km prior. But Sanu keep on going, He reached there teasing me. As we will get much ice than this at Kunzum La , so I decided not to proceed. We spend three hours for that trek. ( what we thought was of half hour. ) . We keep going on bike. With in one km we got ice near to road. Aaaaaaaaha. Trek of three hours versus bike of 10 mins . same result. Some icing done. Then we proceeded further. Reached Losar 1roun 4pm. Setteled in PWD rest house. Best room that we got was this. Awaited tea from care taker. We went to bed for rest. We woke up for food, dal rice. Thik hai. Went to bed.
In vain trek for ice was only mentionable for this day. Good room we got. Next day was real challenge for us. Bad road of journey + just opened Kunzum La ( freezing) + streams + slides + big stones on road + mud + water + cold + 80 km bad road + ascends + descends+ unseen obstacles? We were ready for that. We must start early so stream quantity will be less. We must get adequate sleep. Today’s trek was completely unnecessary. It exhausted us more. Losar was good one. We not entered village. But snow around us keeping us chilled.

Day 11-
We woke up early in morn. Heaviness in head, feeling of nausea, shortness of breath, same situation with Sanu. Sanu got up in midnight for air, went to window, opened window for breath. Acute mountain sickness hit us at this 4100 mtrs. In spite of previous higher altitude stays. Dimox stared to prevent further damage. I decided to leave the place as early as possible, to decrease effects of AMS. It was almost the movement that I may vomit ! Sanu told me to go other side to prevent nauseating him. But no vomit. There will be around 3-4 feet ice in winter, they take 3 days to walk upto Kaza.
Day started with AMS. Real challenge was ahead. Soon we left village. First few kms no bad challenge. Now toughness of our drive started, ascend, mud, streams, stones, chilly wind all together testing all our muscles, moral, fitness, skill, endurance, mental strength. K top 7 km I read, some relief we covered half distance ( 18kms ) of K top. Ascend tough ascend, Sanu had to get down for twice / thrice, but no push to bike required.
snow snow snow snow everywhere, wherever we see, only snow that we were seeing, Sanu overenthusiastically taken some snow in hand, chillest sensation to his hand. Too clod his hand, I told him to stop clicking & keep it in pocket. K top 3 kms we relieved some more. We covered remaining distance with not that many difficulties. Up till now we were addicted to those chilly water flowing on road, streams rushing on road, stones, pebbles of that stream, snow to increase cold. One thing was better than previous that no valley on one side of road, so safety limit was more. Soon we reached K top 4551 meter of our life. We stopped at that point for few clicks of our life. I removed my jacket & put Sanu’s hand in that. Sun came out with brightness, decreased cold of atmosphere. Sanu’s hand came to somewhat better condition with in 5 mins. I warned him not to show any enthusiasm for snow now. Descend started. Now here more streams, no ! no road only streams !! full descend, Ascend was much easier that this, It is difficult from that side to ascend, waved to one foreigner on bullet, Now we were envious for bullet. Batal 18 kms from K top. Slowly descend, shoes totally filled with chilled water, feet become cold & cold. Spare shoes also chilled. Some better road last 5 kms upto Batal. We saw dhabha, stopped for tea, ok. I entered inside, it was much hotter than outside, soon we rushed to chula to warm us, to warm our shoes, we warmed with tea, & chula. Better relief from cold. Dhabha owner was good. He charged only 5 bucks for tea at that remote area. We saw some sleeping arrangements there 50 bucks for night. He warned us next road will be bad than this, much larger stones on the way, much larger streams on the way, your feet will be drenched more. Chandratal road was closed for last 6 -7 kms. With adequate break we proceeded further. Road was not that bad as expected. River was roaring aside. Many times we have to go through cutted ice, ice walls on both side & road in between that. We noticed some bulletian struggling to start bullet, He was localite. We stopped our bike. Tried our best, given push for two times. It may be the problem in the plug. We were unable to open his plug with our tools & he was not having any tools to open it. We were helpless. We felt very bad for it. Finally we decided to push upto Batal for 1/ 2 km. then with help of dhabha owner deal with the problem. On that somewhat dry traffic we must keep bike in perfect condition. We had tried our best, though it not helped to start it, but It may have given some mental support to him. We continued. What I can state was all difficulties with odd nature. It requires mental toughness & himmat. It was not difficult to bike upto Delhi, what was tough was this road. 80 kms seems to be worst than driving for 800kms ! But we knew that, we were prepared for that, for that challenge we were there. So every challenge covered was celebrated with hurray & cheers, yes we had done it! It keeps us going & going for further journey. At Gramphoo we turned for Keylong. As plan was to take try of Ladhak, for K top. Better road, Sisu, then Tandi Tank fulled to max. rushed to Keylong, settled in one GH. 250 bucks, with tv. I went for sleep. Sanu keep enjoying 20-20.
We had achieved some thing today, worst patch of road covered today. We reached one of our height 4551 mtrs today.
What was special for day – Kunzum La 4551 mtrs. & road.
Nature was best & best, we keep admiring & admiring. Went to overpass all road challenges.
We achieved something in our life. One of the movement of life was today.

avinashzalake

A Failed effort! Day 12-
We started for Sarachu, we went smoothly up to Darcha, and then bike showed s/o of low oxygen, not ready to take adequate pickup. We were also exhausted; we postponed Ladakh for next time, to deal with it completely. More confusion was there in our mind, but when there is yes / no, I decided to be with no. One Day I will do remaining part of our trip on thunderbird. Return started. A day rest at Keylong. Then upto Kullu. From Kullu we rushed to Delhi in a day, very bad decision of trip. Near 40 km prior to Delhi we lost some money, my canon A 470 with all precious Photos, & cell. Worst movement of trip. But there is always some good in bad movements, we recovered soon from trauma, we had very good & bad memories of it. One bad movement spoiled our trip! No it was good movement that we returned safely from such a long trip. Many blessings, prayers, wish have worked to bring us safely at home. Not a single accident even on bad road. We came over all challenges of road, nature, our body. We are very lucky that such great blessings of our parents, my family, our all relatives, & many friends were with us to complete our journey & land us at our home.
Nothing will be complete with out mention about My Papa & Sanu’s Papa. With out there permission, encouragement, daring to send their most beloved sons to such difficult journey, it was not possible for us to get our life’s one of the best experience.
Also special thanks to our mech. Yuvraj who made the bike perfect for journey, not a single sign of discouragement from Our BIKE. It also some what wonders that our 100 cc splendor had done it all heights & toughness of road with load of both + Luggage.
“No Dream is too Big”

We had not done something odd / unachievable / something extra. What we had is done by many bikers. We had seen many bikers satisfying their dreams at Ladakh & Spiti valley. We were just part of those. It was only an effort in our life, to tell others go & do it. One must not discourage these efforts, rather than take part in such activities.
Single line I want to say is – It requires real guts. We were unaware of it so we become somewhat afraid when some one speaks us about such trips. Ideally we must encourage them like our family. Each & every one has their own strength; we must give support to them to fulfill something in life. In coming time we will tell future generations what we had done, so they must come forward to achieve something in life. Life is not just sitting at home & enjoying TV (it is sufficient to some extent) one must go out to see what is there, what one can do. It will increase; boost your moral, confidence.
Few words that must needs to mention- The starting point of all achievement is desire, keep this constantly in mind, weak desires bring weak results. Limitations live only in our minds, but if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless. Be strong enough to accept the challenges of life. Dreams have no limits,
If we work towards achieving them there is no limit to the magnitude and quality of your success.


Smooth roads never make good drivers...
Smooth seas never make good sailors…
Clear sky never makes good pilots…
Problem free life never makes a good person.

avinashzalake

here is a way

avinashzalake

here are few videos of our trip
http://www.youtube.com/my_videos

OrangeStreet

Great stuff Avinash! I had so much fun reading your posts.

One suggestion: Use smaller sentences and better grammar. Please dont take any offence. I'm just writing from a perspective of a reader.

__________________
Cheers
OS

avinashzalake

Orange street
I know I am poor somewhat in that.
I will try my best to improve it

OrangeStreet

Dont worry about it! Its a pleasure to read your experience!

Great Stuff! Hope you enjoyed it. Am sure you did!