Himalayan odyssey 2008

“Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I- I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference”

Himalayan odyssey was my dream, our dream. It happens once in year, conducted by Royal Enfield for the bullet enthusiasts. And royal Enfield call it as “an ultimate battle between the man and machine”. I thought these words were only marketing strategy until I experienced it. It was tougher than I expected, the ultimate head rush. Now let me steal and modify couple of sentences from Che Guevara’s “Motorcycle diaries” for a fine introduction,

In June 2008, two young men from Bangalore set out to explore Himalayas on their “Royal Enfield’s”, the powerful: 350cc Classic and 535cc Lightening. And these guy’s plan was to join their fellow riders from Delhi. And they were Nish and I.

Day1

Delhi

27-June-2008

Doom Day: Starting of odyssey

We met our fellow riders from International youth center, Chanakyapuri. It was the briefing day. I could see participants from across the country. 50 riders, 12 crews - crews include medical staffs, mechanics and the organizers - Also there were couple of media personals who were travelling with us. Everyone introduced to each other and sachin briefed about the trip.

Day2

Delhi

28-June-2008

Flag of from India gate –Start of a great journey from a great place.

Delhi – Chandigarh

Distance: 240kms

Altitude: 365 meters

The very first day of the ride, everyone rode as if all the blood were flowing to their right wrist. All were testing their bikes, more specifically their speedometers. Especially Nish, he rode as if, he wants to set fire on the road. I never saw him until we met in chandigarh. He was waiting for me with a smile on his face. This chap was/is my only concern.

Day3
Chandigargh

9-June-2008

Ride to mountains

Chandigarh – manali

Distance: 320kms

Altitude: 2050 meters

The only day in odyssey in which I was more keen on photography than riding. Manali was beautiful, but we could come across more beautiful places than this during our journey. I felt Manali is more commercialised.

Day4

Manali

30-June-2008

First glimpse of snow filled mountains

Manali – keylong
Distance: 115kms
Altitude: 3350 meters

Roads were becoming tougher and tougher. We had to cross couple of steepy mud roads which were slippery and were a warning bell for all the riders. It was just the alarm for the coming days. I could see soldiers helping out riders to cross the muddy roads. Thanks to this place that made me to realize the power of my 535cc lightning for the first time when other bikers were struggling to cross the slippery muddy roads. My bike was so powerful that it was just taking me thru these rough patches.

I loved it.

And the military trucks were the other threat for the riders. For the first time in my life I was riding thru the snow filled mountains. It was heaven. Truly heaven.

Day5

Keylong

1-july-2008

Gateway to Himalayas

Keylong – sarchu

Distance: 109kms

Altitude: 4253 meters

Ride was tough and more interestingly today’s stay was on tent. It was a luxury in middle of no where. And the sad news was that Nish’s bike started giving problem. We have to wait for 2 more days to reach Leh for bike service. Also he badly hit by altitude sickness. Worst day for Nish.

Day6
Sarchu

2-July-2008

When I got up this morning I had symptoms of altitude sickness - severe headache and breathing trouble. Doctor gave me some medicines for altitude sickness and also boosted my morale. And I’ve decided to ride.

Sarchu – Rumste

Distance: 173 kms

Altitude: 4325 meters

Sadly I could not complete today’s ride because of headache. I had to stop ride at half way when we were at the regrouping point – Pang. Oh boy, I swear, it was the worst headache ever had in my life. Nish rode the lightning while I was coming on the support vehicle.

Day7

Rumste

3-jul-2008

“If there is heaven on earth, it is here – Jammu Kashmir”

Rumste – leh

Distance: 78kms

Altitude: 3506 meters

It’s true. I forgot about my last day’s physical issues and all set to hit road again. The charm of Kashmir is beyond words. Today nish was my pillion and we were heading to Leh- Laddakh.

The shortest ride.

Day8
Leh

4-jul-2008

Into the rooftop of the world.

Today is the rest day. Riders got the opportunity to service and tune their machines. Some went to visit budhist monasteries in and around Leh. While Nish and I preferred to walk around the ancient Leh market, visited the 17th century Leh palace. Most importantly I got my bike serviced and also tried traditional Tibetan cuisines.

Leh may be the only place in India where foreigners outnumber nationals. And the season starts from the month of May to august. And interestingly a survey says that Leh is one of the 100 places you must visit before you die.

Day9
Khardung-La

5-july-2008

Highest motorable road in the world - 5580meters.

Leh - Khardung-La – Leh

Distance: 78kms

Altitude: 5580 meters

All riders had a common goal. Ride thru the highest motorable road and it happened today. That made me to feel great. Wow!!

Now we are riding back home!!

Day10

Leh

6-July-2008

Leh-Tso-Kar

Distance: 130kms

Altitude: 4485 meters

One frame - 50 riders - Group photo

Day11

Tso-Kar

7-july-2008

Tso-Kar to Keylong

Distance : 223kms

long waiting in rain on frozen mountain for bike repair

Day12

keylong

8-July-2008

keylong-kaza

Distance: 107kms

Altitude: 3600 meters

The toughest ride I ever had in my life

The toughest ride I ever had in my life. I am really lucky to survive this day without any damage to my machine and myself. This ride had everything. Rough patches, stream crossing, slippery muddy roads and even rolling stones. The terrain was completely different than the other areas we rode on. It had very loose soil and rolling stones were always a threat to the riders, the area had zero vegetation and all I could see was big rocks. Interestingly there was no road at all and this is the only day we rode with our headlights on. It took 14hours to cover just 107kms!!!

Day13

Kaza

9-july-2008

Kaza-Kalpa

Distance: 217kms

Altitude: 2900 meters

Day14

Kalpa

10-July-2008

Apple trees

Kalpa - Rampur
Distance: 115kms
Altitude: 1005meters

Ride thru the himachal villages were amazing. The scenic beauty were just beyond the words. Long strech of roads were thru the apple farms in the valley and atleast for sometime I was interested in scenic beauty than riding.

Day15

Rampur

11-Jul-2008

Rampur - Solan (via Shimla)

Distance: 165kms

Altitude: 1467meters

Picnic has begun again. I felt just "wow!!" riding thru the best hill station in the country - Shimla. Pine trees and thick fog were adding excitement to the ride. Excitement did not last long. A bad news was awaiting for us. One of our fellow rider met with an accident fortunately survived without any injury.

Day16

Solan

12-July-2008

Solan - Delhi

Distance: 280kms

Altitude: -

The last day of odyssey. I was feeling sad when I got up this morning. Odyssey was getting over and we all will apart from Delhi. But we were riding back home and that brings back the excitement!!

Bad day, very bad day. Accident again. This time it was more serious than that of the previous ones. It was a head on collision with a truck and we have to take Jamshed to the emergency. I just couldn't do anything other than praying for him. Only the skelton of his bike were remining in the spot. We all crossed our fingers for good news. And it came in no time. Jamshed is fine. Oh boy!!

We got instruction to move on and this time Nish came in as my pillion. That gave me a lot of ease while riding back. It was so nice to share the happiness after fulfilling our dream.

A thought came in my mind when we were riding back..It was the mailing signatute of one of the rider in odyssey and which was,

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.Discover."