Pang to Leh 13.09.07
We woke up around 06.30 hrs o
n the chilly morning of 13th September, only to find a sheet of ice had formed on our bikes overnight. It had been snowing the day before and that had contributed to the extreme cold. I was wondering if my bike would start under battery power in such circumstances. I didnt have a kick-start on my bike (I used to call it "superbike" stuff!) and Amol was like " Nilu, yeh tu kaun sa bike le ke aa gaya?". Indeed, I was really thinking that I would have to jumpstart the bike. Now, to find someone who push give that shove from behind! Well, just to try my luck, I brushed off the ice with cables and tried one go at the self-start. A struggling whine from the engine and I let go off the thumb start. Tried it once again and the battery low warning flashed on my bike's LCD console.
n the chilly morning of 13th September, only to find a sheet of ice had formed on our bikes overnight. It had been snowing the day before and that had contributed to the extreme cold. I was wondering if my bike would start under battery power in such circumstances. I didnt have a kick-start on my bike (I used to call it "superbike" stuff!) and Amol was like " Nilu, yeh tu kaun sa bike le ke aa gaya?". Indeed, I was really thinking that I would have to jumpstart the bike. Now, to find someone who push give that shove from behind! Well, just to try my luck, I brushed off the ice with cables and tried one go at the self-start. A struggling whine from the engine and I let go off the thumb start. Tried it once again and the battery low warning flashed on my bike's LCD console.Kenny urged me to have one more go at it. I wasnt too keen on making my "superbike" suffer..so I asked Kenny to do the honours. He simply put the choke on and tabbed the thumb start- the engine came to life at a single go and my baby purred on without a note of protest!
After all th
e preparations,mounting our bags again and a hasty breakfast consisting of soup and eggs, we started off at 09
.15 hrs. The initial climb through the snow-soaked mountain road later, we came across to another wonder by the name of "More Plains". It was in this plateau, that we "felt like God" like the dude in the Bajaj ad. From what we knew, the Bajaj ad was indeed shot at the same place. The start of the plains presented us with an awesome view of the mountains that lay ahead of us...and I realised why people talk of places "that had to be seen to be believed".We stopped for some snapshots and proceeded to what we would name as the "infinite lane expresway". It was indeed an out-of-this world experience to make our own road and go our own way! 45 kms into the exhilarating ride on the "More Plains", we came to the climb for Tanglang La- Level 4 and an altitude of 17582 ft above MSL.
e preparations,mounting our bags again and a hasty breakfast consisting of soup and eggs, we started off at 09
.15 hrs. The initial climb through the snow-soaked mountain road later, we came across to another wonder by the name of "More Plains". It was in this plateau, that we "felt like God" like the dude in the Bajaj ad. From what we knew, the Bajaj ad was indeed shot at the same place. The start of the plains presented us with an awesome view of the mountains that lay ahead of us...and I realised why people talk of places "that had to be seen to be believed".We stopped for some snapshots and proceeded to what we would name as the "infinite lane expresway". It was indeed an out-of-this world experience to make our own road and go our own way! 45 kms into the exhilarating ride on the "More Plains", we came to the climb for Tanglang La- Level 4 and an altitude of 17582 ft above MSL.
A steep an
d cautious climb later, we scaled Tanglang La at 11.35 hrs. My 
tripmeter read 980.4 km. Fellow riders had told us that if we made it to Tanglang La in fair weather, the rest of the journey would be a piece of cake. But it was at TangLang La that I had the first attack of AMS. I popped in a pill of Diamox, took some glucose spiked water and munched on a bar one. The spell of dizziness was what prevented me from joining Kenny and Himanshu for a roll in the snow. So we decided not to linger around much around in the rarifed atmosphere and move downhill. A few thousand feet descent later, I felt somewhat better and barring a few stops to take some more snapshots, we moved on to Rumtse for lunch.
d cautious climb later, we scaled Tanglang La at 11.35 hrs. My 
tripmeter read 980.4 km. Fellow riders had told us that if we made it to Tanglang La in fair weather, the rest of the journey would be a piece of cake. But it was at TangLang La that I had the first attack of AMS. I popped in a pill of Diamox, took some glucose spiked water and munched on a bar one. The spell of dizziness was what prevented me from joining Kenny and Himanshu for a roll in the snow. So we decided not to linger around much around in the rarifed atmosphere and move downhill. A few thousand feet descent later, I felt somewhat better and barring a few stops to take some more snapshots, we moved on to Rumtse for lunch.We reached Rumtse at 13.00 hrs and stopped at a local restaurant by the road. The lemon tea at this hotel was awesome and we ordered maggi for lunch. Amol fell sick immediately after lunch and we thought it'd be a good idea to just hang around a bit and let Amol rest for a while. Anyway, Leh wasnt too far and the road was supposedly good.
The road after Rumtse was an unforgettable one- with unbelievable scenic views splashed across all around us. We ripped on the road that snaked through the valleys, my speedo touching 96 kmph at times, but not more than that. I suspect the altitude playing the major role in the bikes' under-performance.
An hour and half later, we had reached LEH!!!- the place that we have been 
hearing so much about but only through other people's tales and Nat Geo and Discovery. Leh- the fabled destination, the fruit of our ( and our bikes'!) labour and countless breathtaking paths later, we had made it!!We had made it to Leh in good time, having reached the main chowk at 15.20 hrs. A few enquiries later about the whereabouts of Old Leh Road , we checked into one comfy looking "Hotel Chospa" at 15.30 hrs. We werent too keen on hunting around for more hotels and besides, Amol and Himanshu found the hotel and the rates quite good.Once inside our hotel room, we just hugged and jumped with each other and slapped high five!!Sweet sweet victory!!! We had clocked a total of 1089 kms in five days.
hearing so much about but only through other people's tales and Nat Geo and Discovery. Leh- the fabled destination, the fruit of our ( and our bikes'!) labour and countless breathtaking paths later, we had made it!!We had made it to Leh in good time, having reached the main chowk at 15.20 hrs. A few enquiries later about the whereabouts of Old Leh Road , we checked into one comfy looking "Hotel Chospa" at 15.30 hrs. We werent too keen on hunting around for more hotels and besides, Amol and Himanshu found the hotel and the rates quite good.Once inside our hotel room, we just hugged and jumped with each other and slapped high five!!Sweet sweet victory!!! We had clocked a total of 1089 kms in five days.
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