Bike Tour - Sarahan to Sangla Valley, Chitkul & Kalpa (Day 2)

The day started with cozy weather covering entire Sarahan valley under clouds. It was difficult to come out of bed early in morning so we started the ride comfortably at 07:00 AM.

It was nice to cut the dense clouds in Sarahan and Ride ahead. Moreover downhill drive was free fall as there was almost no traffic.

Drizzling did not leave us and continued this day as well. However this day's attraction was the spectacular terrains of Kinnaur Valley. We came across all those scary and haunting terrains of Kinnaur which I had seen till day in photographs only. Slippery roads under rain made our ride more fascinating on these terrains.

Though I am well versed with narrow roads of my hometown Chamba but Kinnaur is unbeatable. The narrow roads on high hills made me cold blooded couple of times. But since I was aware that this is once in lifetime trip, we took some risk and stood at very narrow roads under hanging rocks to capture some nice memories.

While we were enjoying our ride on mud, narrow roads and scary terrains, well before a small station "Tapri" the road was blocked due to landslide and road maintenance. We were forced to wait here for at least half an hour when we finally crossed it.

Tapri was the first stop for breathing and break fast. The clouds had scattered and day had grown little warmer by now. Rest of the work was done by freshly made hot parantha and steaming dark red colored tea.

With nice feeling after lovely breakfast at "Punjabi Dhaba" we moved ahead towards Karcham, the point where we had to divert towards Sangla Valley and Chitkul Village. Somehow I was enjoying the rough tracks with my RE Classic 500. The machine was rocking on each and every patch of the rough track.

As we moved ahead of Karcham towards Sangla Valley, the uphill terrains filled completely a new energy in me and it was spectacular to ride on those mysterious terrains and curves.

Riding uphill against gravity in low oxyegn, we finally landed at Sangla Valley. The spectacular views of Sangla Valley made me stop at some of the very narrow corners to collect nice photographs. The green lush valley with various colors of house popping out of the pine tree jungles was a breath taking view to witness. Clouds wandering over it made it stunning combination of colors.

Since our target was to reach Chitkul by noon and we had plan to have lunch at Chitkul so we rode ahead without spending much time at Sangla Valley.

The road took 360 Degree turn when mettled road abruptly disappeared. We were riding off road in the middle of fields and jungle often. We crossed very first water stream crossing well before Chitkul in the middle of dense forest.

This was one of the corner of this world where I wished that this road should never come to an end. The valley was spectacular and riding was easy with no traffic on it.

As we were nearing Chitkul, the dense forest had started disappearing slowly and mountains have started widening from all sides. Before I could realize that we are about to enter Chitkul, a small Restaurant little far from road signaled that we are about to reach our destination. And yes one turn from that point and a board welcomed us. We could see the entire chitkul village from this point and believe me it was soothing to watch. Fully lush green and wide open valley with handful of houses, it was really heartening to see people living in such remote corners of the world.

Finally we got into our senses after digesting the beauty of Chitkul and rode into the middle of the village to find out some eating point or Dhaba. At the end of the village, we landed at a house cum guest house cum restaurant where both husband and wife were owner cum cooks.

Those delayed Maggi servings and Coffee was nice experience to fill in the kitty of memories. Immediately after long lunch break and lazy times, we rode back towards Sangla and Karcham so that we can finally reach Kalpa which was the last destination for the day.

Soon we reversed entire distance from Chitkul to Sangla and Finally Karcham. Now we had to move towards Kalpa. Suddenly, the road was spectacular to ride along with the river. But the joy of riding on such a superb road was short and we were finally again in the middle of rough tracks. Since our last destination Kalpa was not far, we rode happily.

Like our Day 1 destination Sarahan, Kalpa was also 15 kilometers off route from our main route towards Kaza. But since I had heard lot of great about the place, we did not mind to ride those 15 kilometer. Once we diverted from Powari towards Recong Peo and Kalpa, the ride was exactly like Sarahan uphill ride except the fact that Day 2 road was open unlike Sarahan which was fully covered under trees.

Recong Peo was way above what I had an image of this town. This small town was spectacular to watch and riding in the middle of this town is worth remembering. After taking multiple zig zag turns on hill we reached Kalpa. The very first thing I noticed was that the town was completely clean and organised. None of  water streams were crossing over the road. This was stunning to watch.

We were determined to stay at Himachal Tourism Hotel, Kinner Kailash. So we rode to the hotel and finally got the best of the room with spectacular view of Holy Kinner Kailash from room.

Bike Tour - Chandigarh to Sarahan (Day 1)

After long wait of more than a month, finally the D Day had arrived on 4th Jul 2012. Both RE Classic 500 were serviced thoroughly on previous day and pampered properly as the ride ahead was difficult and adventours.

Out of excitement I had short sleep and got up at 04:00 AM at Chandigarh. We manage to hit the road by 05:00 AM. The morning was quite hot even at 5 AM, but in the hope of great weather ahead I ignored the wind blowing on my face.

Once we hit the new bypass for Shimla near Pinjore, the weather changed dramatically. The cold wind blowing on face felt like heavenly touch and beautiful uphill terrains encouraged me to pull the throttle hard.

The clouds were coming down fast and we were heading into a mystical world behind clouds. Soon the visibility reduced drastically which ofcourse did hit our pace to large extent.

Once we reached Solan, the mysterious clouds welcomed us with drizzling and added interesting aspect to our first day riding. We were not able to see anything beyond 100 meters and clouds have made a thick white cage around us. Above this, there were no vehicles moving early in the morning.

I had started feeling hungry once we crossed Solan but there were no dhabas open at 07 AM so we kept riding.

The clouds were continuously wandering on mountains, often taking road beneath it and sometime suddenly making a view fully clear. With this play of hide and seek with clouds, the increasing traffic from the other side made us realized that we had reached Shimla.

The beautiful city of Shimla was completely drained under rain. The heavenly feeling of this beautiful city teased me to give a thought to stay for a day here in such a beautiful weather. But our mega tour had to be accomplished by sticking to the plan, so we did that.

Once we crossed Shimla, we realised that its only three hours since we started our ride and we were at Kufri. Now this was the high time for breakfast, so we stopped at small dhaba for break.

After Kufri, the entire ride was downhill untill Rampur. With roads in excellent conditions and weather becoming warmer, we manage to cruise faster. The another benefit of clear weather was awesome view of valley, which we enjoyed the most.

On our way we met lot of cyclist downhill in colorful apparels. I did get carried away with the idea of cycling but my cycling was way away from me.

By the time we reached Rampur, the day had grown, the sky was clear. The town was extremely crowded. This was the last place where we had to fill our petrol tanks as we were told that there was no petrol pump before Sarahan. So we filled our tanks here and rode ahead.

As we crossed Rampur, we got to see rainy weather far on mountains, in the direction where we were heading.

Jeori was the next station on highway from where we had to turn right to reach Sarahan. This was the another stop where Petrol pump was available after Rampur. Road condition was not so excellent but keeping in mind what we will encounter in later part of our trip, these roads were good.

The uphill ride of approximately 20 KM from Jeori to Sarahan was the highlight of the day. In the middle of dense forest of pine trees the curves of roads felt excellent to ride. As we started on this stretch, the clouds again caught us from all sides. Freshly showered roads and valley was the proof of recent rain.

Once we reached Sarahan, we enquired the room availability at Shrikhand Hotel maintained by Himachal Tourism but there was no availability. Finally we landed at some small hotel where we spent rest of the day.

Bike Tour - Kinnaur, Spiti, Lahaul, Ladakh & Kashmir

This time I had planned a longer and wider bike tour covering some of the spectacular valleys of Himachal and J&K for any biker and photographer.

We started with plan of six riders and by the time we were to hit the road, we left with 2 riders i.e Anand and me. The entire blame goes to office schedules.

Nevertheless we were in really very high spirit to ride hard and ride longer.  I was eager to ride to Kinnaur and Spiti valley of the Himachal. So we covered all these places before heading towards Ladakh. The day wise tour was:- 

• Day 1:- Chandigarh to Sarahan via Shimla
• Day 2:- Sarahan to Kalpa (covering Sangla Valley and Chitkul Village)
• Day 3:- Kalpa to Kaza
• Day 4:- Kaza to Keylong (covering holy Chandertaal enroute)
• Day 5:- Keylong to Leh (the original plan was to stay at Pang but we got the benefit of early birds and landed at Leh same day)
• Day 6:- Leh to Khardung La, World’s highest motorable pass
• Day 7:- Leh to Tso-Mori ri Lake
• Day 8:- Tso-Mori ri Lake to Leh
• Day 9:- Leh to Pangong Tso Lake
• Day 10:- Pangong Tso Lake to Leh
• Day 11:- Leh to Kargil
• Day 12:- Kargil to Gulmarg
• Day 13:- A day at Gulmarg
• Day 14:- Gulmarg to Jammu
• Day 15:- Jammu to Nangal Dam

 We rode 3,500 KM in 15 days trip and this was truly mesmerizing.

Since we were aware of our mega plans, we serviced our bikes at Chandigarh a day in advance and carried some of basic spare parts with us, which are:-

1. Tyre Tubes
2. Clutch Cable
3. Accelerator Cable
4. Spark Plugs
5. Chain Locks
6. Electrical Fuse
7. Tool Kit
8. Engine Oil
9. Two containers of 5 ltr each for Petrol

On Safety gears, below list accompanied me:- 

1. DSG Biking Jacket
2. RST  Gloves
3. Knee cum Shin Guard
4. Helmet

 Taking learning from my previous experiences of Bike Tour, This time I had Saddle Bags from Cramster which made my entire trip extremely comfortable.

And I forgot to mention about the the most important fellow of my mega tour, The Diva, The Lady of my passion, ROYAL ENFIELD CLASSIC 500. A true companion of my solace and life.

Mountain Biking - Exploring new tracks

Our every day Mega Morning initiative had brought us to such a verge that we had run out of new tracks on and off road for Cycling in and around Nangal situated in the foothills of Shivalik Hills. Gaurav and me were starving to explore new tracks for our pulses to come back to normal.

Everyday morning when we hit the road either on cycle or on a run, we do not come with pre decided plan. 2nd June 2012 Saturday was not different from our normal routine. We manage to hit the road at 05:00 AM with a clear aim to explore new track.

Crossing through NFL jungles we went out of Nangal town and were wandering somewhere in the forests along side serene Nangal Dam. First Rays of sun in front of serene and soothing water filled more energy and excitement to pedal hard.

So far the track was not new for us. After pedalling 10 kilometer with a blend of uphill and downhill ride, we took a diversion towards new corner of the valley. In couple of moments we were right in front of humungas Nangal Dam and stable green water to cross. Wait wait, I am not going to say that we crossed it either by riding on water or by swimming along with our mountain bikes. 

There was a 100 years old bridge to cross to reach other side of the dam. The length of the bridge was approximately 500 meters and looked too giant standing tall in the sky. Bridge was narrow enough to not to ride on it so we had to walk on it with our cycles. With our every step, the movement of bridge increased a lot and looking down into the green water of dam made it more challenging for us to concentrate. There was another thrill to the game, since steel made bridge was broken at many places, people had put wooden floor  on it which was also too old and damaged badly. We had no choice than to cross it smilingly. Surely we soaked some blood here.

This bridge called "Handola" was the beginning of exploring new track. The track ahead was completely off road and full of odd rocks lying all over the place. An old railway track joined us soon and we learnt from a local that we were heading towards Bhakra Dam through an off road track. We rode along with Railway track and valley full of plants and trees.

While riding off road for few kilometers we crossed a very small village when off road track abruptly ended and a smooth beautiful road welcomed us with easy uphill ride. This was the beginning of Bhakra Dam territory. At a diversion of road towards two direction, we inquired about both tracks from a policemen guarding Dam territory.

Again with no plans, we decided to go on a different route than one which went towards Dam. We crossed a bridge over Dam outlet and reached on the other side of the dam. It was like going into the different world where there is nothing called noise and life. For miles and miles there was no churping of words and spotting a human being was almost like next to impossible. But surprisingly road was newly built and street lights at almost every place.

The sun had grown harsh by this time and we had locked around 15 kilometer with half of it an uphill ride. The serene track covered with trees on one side helped us pedaling harder to ride an uphill track with 250 meter elevation in three kilometer distance. We rested, we drank water, we slogged and above all we thoroughly enjoyed.

We were riding along with Dam and harsh sun rays made us pedal fast to reach somewhere. By now we were targeting to reach above the altitude of Dam and see the real beauty from top. Finally with lot of sweat and pedaling we manage to kill the altitude and reached very near to top of the dam.

There was another thrill waiting on our way, and it was nothing but a dark tunnel. Crossing that tunnel on a cycle with no traffic was fun to do it. We were so badly tired that wanted tunnel to not to come to an end. But it was shorter than expected.

The uphill riding had not yet ended and seemed that this will go long.But we were not yet broken and decided to move ahead. Soon we realised that this road will take us to Jawali Ji of Kangra District if we are able to manage another 80 kilometer riding.

After moving out of Dam territory, we started spotting few houses close to road. Spotting people here was equally difficult and we were clearly riding in isolation.

The day had started growing hot. By now we were more than satisfied to explore new area, new track and new fun.

We decided to turn back after 21 kilometer of riding. We knew that on our way back we have more than 10 kilometer down hill riding. By clearly knowing the fact that its a NIL traffic area we did not even touch our brakes and let cycles plays with tracks. The terrains were thrilling and maximum speed we touched was 60 kilometer per hour. This seemed exciting and provoking to ride hard.

We were not yet done with uphill riding and another 2 kilometer of uphill was still left. This proved to be a challenging task with sun clearly coming on the face and boiling water in our bottles becoming undrinkable. There was no other way to continue pedaling hard and what can stand in front of stubborn minds like ours.

The last stretch of downhill involved some traffic. I was so exhausted by this time that even hot air gave me so much of enjoyment as if I was running out of Oxygen.

Soon we entered Nangal where we rode on inner roads of BBMB and NFL to avoid traffic and reached back home.

This was among some of my toughest tracks and I fully believe in the fact that there is nothing called Free Lunch in this world. The spirits are high to write some more pages of fun to make people believe that Life is Beautiful and You Can do it temperament. Use your mental strength than physical strength to stand out from the crowd.

Cycling Expedition - Bhakra Dam

The spring season in northern India is at home now. On the foothills of Shivalik Hills at Nangal what best could be other than hitting the road on cycle and explore Bhakra Dam with new look of nature in Spring.

This time I was not alone as Jaideep Yadav was all set to join me with his new Hero Octane Cycle.

Our expedition began at 07:00 AM on March 11, 2012 in relatively cold weather from Nangal. We carried bare minimum stuff with a bottle of water and chocolates. We thoroughly enjoyed empty roads and roads along Nangal Dam. We crossed first check point and stopped for a tea break.

The track ahead was steep uphill until last destination. We slowly moved up and enjoyed the cycling track a lot.

While on the way back we stopped at Nangal Dam and the beauty of water was amazing with sun shining on it.

The total distance we covered was 17 kilometers with a gain of 200 feet in altitude.

Donate Blood - Spread Humanity and Love

After moving from Delhi in April 2011, I did not get time at Nangal to voluntarily donate blood after every three months. Every time some or the other excuse had put this noble cause on back seat. My pledge to donate blood every quarter was not adhered. It stayed in mind for last 10 months as burden on me and felt guilty many a times.

March 09, 2012 was the day when I suddenly decided in office to complete this long pending task, so I rushed to Government Hospital in Una (Himachal Pradesh). Blood Bank staff was sitting idol and my entry made them little active.

It has been my experience that every time I say that I want to voluntarily donate blood, staffs reacts as if they have not yet come across any voluntary blood donor.

It took me hardly 10 minutes to complete the formalities of donating blood. My fear of injections always haunt me and nurse who injected the needle ensured that it reaches deeper than I had ever experienced. It was little painful but the feeling of donating blood to save a life without any self interest was above all.

It was so relieving to come back to routine of blood donation as if I have completed my toughest examinations of my studies.

The idea of organizing a blood donation camp cropped in my mind and just imagined that it will be such a great cause if I am able to encourage few youngsters to contribute to this noble cause. This chain can spread such a beautiful message and we can save so many lives. Every single life deserves to live happily in this world. What can be more soothing and satisfying than to save a life who need help ?

It was my 5th unit of Blood donation and till the time I stay fit and healthy I will continue to increase this number every quarter.

The need of the hour is to encourage as many people as possible as demand of blood in India is always significantly higher than supply. Young India, please come forward and spread humanity far.

Triund - A Trek on 5 Feet Snow

Trekking third time to Triund had brought me again to Mcleodganj on evening of 2nd March 2012. The Snow at Triund was the key greed to conquer this trek on 3rd March. Jaideep Yadav and Deepak Mishra were too excited to take up the challenge on five feet snow and steep glaciers.

Deepak Mishra had never seen the Snow and Jaideep Yadav had returned unsucesful from Trek to Triund couple of months back. So it was more challenging for me to reach at Triund with my company. Somewhere in mind I was very clear that no matter what happens I will make these guys to reach at the top.

The trek started at 08:30 AM from Mcleodganj. We filled some confectionery, chocolates and water in our backpack. Strangely Jaideep and Deepak were exceptionally excited and energatic to reach the snow point, rather I was surprised that both of them started walking faster than me in the beginning. But it was for a while  and soon I took lead. My intention was to pull them upto half of the distance (7 KM) fast so that we have enough time to climb carefully when last 6 odd kilometers comes in front of us with unexpected stacks of snow.

Unlike summer times, the track had become no man land, we the only three trekkers were breaking the silence of dense forest with all kind of noise.

After 2 kilometer trek, we got to meet 4 dogs who looked aggressive initially. But soon we realized that all they need is pampering and some food. They got both this from us so they joined us for rest of the day. With these four dogs running behind and ahead of us, we finally reached the first stop of our trek, Dharamkot.

We bought more stuff to eat at Dharamkot. Most important buy here was Red Bull. We fed the dogs with biscuits so that they join us till last. It was good company from safety point of view.

Little away from Dharamkot, our track started showing some snow staked on the way. This was the time when we could see the full view of Dharamshala and Mcleodganj from top. By this time, signs of tiredness had started appearing on Jaideep's face. Few words of motivation and pampering to Jaideep we moved ahead. 

Soon came the turning point of our trek when we moved to the other side of landscape where we could see our first stop/breakfast stop and then on 90 degree look up was Triund. The shining white snow there created an unique energy in body and provoked me to run like crazy to reach there. The beauty of Triund covered under Snow was spectacular and breadth taking. For a while I was lost in a way as if I am wandering at Triund with no relation to this world. But soon I came back to reality as we had huge distance to be covered yet, that too full of snow and steep climb.

We were too busy with capturing the beauty of nature, of-course including lot of photographs of all three of us. After moving little ahead on track, we were in front of the first glacier of our adventure. It was huge, scary, steep and almost negligible marks of foot. Moreover, the noise of flowing water under glacier increased my fear. The glacier was almost 7 to 8 feet fat. There was no scope for error. Above all this, the day had grown hot enough to melt snow, so the fear of some snow coming down had almost fasten my heart beat to extreme. Our non stop chitter bitter had suddenly disappeared and silence there felt more haunting to me. With strange fears crossing my mind, we manage to cross our first glacier successfully. 

Our first encounter with such a huge glacier proved two things clearly. First that in our balance 8 to 10 kilometer trek we are going to come across lot of snow and glaciers, second that my both partners will not give up and that was great news to me.

With our first glacier crossing and half a kilometer trek from there, we reached a place called MAGIC VIEW where we had planned our breakfast with delicious Maggi cooked with lot of vegetable. The feeling of reaching at first milestone and feeding maggi was super awesome. We met three trekkers from abroad here. They alarmed us about the track and glaciers ahead. But we ignored it and moved ahead after resting for a while here.

As we were climbing high, the zeal to reach Triund was increasing step by step. The Magic View was the point where never ending snow started and now we had to walk on snow for almost 6 kilometers till Triund. The track ahead was full of Snow, glaciers and steep climb with no marks of foot.

Our mouths were shut permanently and camera was packed. I told both my buddies to focus on their steps invariably. We conquered three times bigger glaciers than first one and way steeper. It was genuinely risky to cross that when water flowing under it was huge. But we had no option than to cross it. This time we just did not stop in the middle and walked carefully on it.

After crossing this huge glacier we were to climb 90 degree for next 2 kilometers and that was Triund. But these two kilometers proved to be the most haunting to me. The only question in my mind was "How we will come down ?" I did not share my fears with  Jaideep Yadav and Deepak Mishra as this would have taken them onto the verge of giving up there itself.

800 meters before Triund,  Jaideep gave up and refused to climb. The reason was steep valley down looked scary and his shoes were completely wet. Here rather than motivating him I forcibly pushed him to walk up.

The purity of snow here proved that coutable number of people have reached here. Unmarked track proved our point further. We were among very few to reach at Triund. It was amazing to see  Jaideep and Deepak feeling proud of completing the trek. The view and feeling was beyond imaginations. Unlike last time Green lush, Triund was pure white. The place filled us with infinite Joy. 

We spent an hour over there where we met two young Monks and had heavely delicious steaming Dal and Rice in only shop open at Triund.

Now it was the time to head back to Mcleodganj. The challenge started with our first step to go down itself. It was steep and scary. The same unmarked Snow felt killer. I guided both my buddies to use edge of their shoes and to keep cross feet wherever possible. I did not allow them to put flat steps which are most dangerous on snow. The steep downhill of two kilometer was the most critical part of our journey back with litterly no scope of error.

Suddenly both  Jaideep and Deepak gave up and sat where ever they were. To keep eye on them and guide them I was the last one. At one steep path  Deepak  simply sat on snow and started screaming. Looking at this situation  Jaideep  turned back upward but I did not allow him to go back. Now this was the most tricky situation for me. Rather than screaming back on them, I decided to go to front and help them. The track was small enough to not to allow anyone cross, so I decided to make my own path on snow. As I reached close to  Deepak my right leg bumped into snow and my right leg got stuck till waste. I had no choice than to stay calm. Slowly I managed to come over it. After this I immediately asked  Deepak  to move slowly and then  Jaideep.

Once we crossed the biggest glacier, I could see  Jaideep's and Deepak's heart beat coming back to normal. I was happy that we managed to cross the main challenge safely. Moreover when  Jaideep was wearing flat shoes and  Deepak  was wearing shoes with soul which had become flat over a period of time.

On the way back, we met lot of people who were trying to reach Triund. We were sure that none them would reach.

With extreme happiness and satisfaction we trekked back to Mcleodganj. It was long day and ofcourse God had made it really special for me as Snow and peaks of Himalayas are too close to my heart. The day I marked in my life as some of those days where I was fully satisfied with what I did.