Himalayan Odyssey 2010
A brief description about me and my bike: I Sourabh Sharma had been a Royal Enfield (Bullet) freak since childhood. Royal Enfield boasts to be one of the oldest bike manufactures (older than Harley-Davidson) and holds some of the interesting legacies. Having record of “57 men pyramid” on moving bikes is one of them. In India RE bikes are still being produced and are only cruiser available in above 350 CC segment. RE is still primarily used bike by Indian security forces like Army and Police. My father initially refused to allow me to own RE but I refused to accept any other bike. At last in my final year of college, he presented me my dream bike Bullet as birthday gift. (It was the time I had secured campus placement).Since then my bike has been a reliable companion to me. I still prefer to drive bike than car in Gurgaon as it is fairly easier while maneuvering in traffic.
Riding as hobby: Delhi NCR is the place from where many nice places are drivable on weekends. Be it hill stations of Himachal, Uttarakhand or desert, monuments in Rajasthan and even Taj-Mahal city Agra one can find excellent destinations to drive for, enjoy local platters and chill (Traffic in Delhi is an added adventure for anyone). My initial rides were from Gurgaon where I covered Jaipur-Ajmer-Pushkar , Agra-Mathura, Rishikesh-Haridwar and later I covered Pune-Khandala-Mumbai, Pune-Shirdee from Pune. It is said about India that while you are travelling by road India changes after each 300 kilometers .I find it true by my own experience. Once you hit highway and cruise, it is like an addiction. You want to do again and again.
Ladakh and Khrdung-La: Be it from sunny sand beaches to lush green forests or be it hot sand deserts to freezing glaciers, In India one can find all kindly of terrains to ride on. Ladakh is farthest north region of India in Jammu & Kashmir province along with China border. Ladakh region is mainly inhabited by Tibetan Buddhists people and Ladakh is referred as “Land Of Lama”. Ladakh terrain comprises of high altitude mountains/passes, valleys, lakes, rivers, glaciers and even desert! Ladakh offers one of most challenging and beautiful rides and also has pride to have highest drivable road in the world which is “Khardung La”. (La means pass in Tibetan language). Thus Ladakh has become Mecca of bikers.
Himalayan Odyssey: Every year in every June and July, RE organizes Himalayan Odyssey the biking rally for RE riders that passes through among most toughest and most beautiful places and including Khardung- La. For me participating in Himalayan Odyssey was a childhood dream.
My Himalayan Odyssey (2010): Criteria to participate in Himalayan Odyssey are:
1) You have to be Royal Enfield bike owner.
2) Physically fit (Medical test after running 5 KMs and 50 Pushups in 1 hour).
3) Your bike should be well maintained( Scrutiny test for bike)
4) You should be wearing proper riding gear and follow all traffic rules while on bike.
This time HO was scheduled to start from date 19th June till 3rd of July. I will be thankful to my managers Mr. Gurpreet and Mr. Shibli that they adjusted the deliverables timelines and allowed me to participate in the event for such a long time.
Start of HO adventure: On 17th June Thursday I left office by evening and shot to finish my final shopping and packing and all set for next day medical test. After practicing for 2 months, completing 5 KMs and 50 Pushups wasn’t a big hurdle for me and all so wasn’t the bike scrutiny. Finally we were given our numbers and HO stickers for helmets and bikes. After short briefing and introduction among each other, we were on board.
Flag off Ceremony and Start of Odyssey: On the morning of 19th June we were briefed to cover Chandigarh which around 250 kilometers from Delhi. We were instructed to ride in 2 x2 formations while riding in city making a snake of motorcycles so that we can move in cities swiftly. After some short cultural programs and an addressing by RE chief, more than 60 bullets started from India gate at 8:30. In the presence of huge media, crowd we rode through India’s most significant roads escorted by Delhi police. Shortly after we crossed Delhi, we were welcomed by tasty Punjabi breakfast thanks to an old Odyssey rider renewing his best memories. We moved on and as expected sun in June played its part. It was 40 C when we reached Chandigarh, riding in heat wearing armored jacket and protection gear took its toll. We were all drained out and one rider collapsed because of dehydration thankfully not while riding.
Day 2-3 Manali and Rohtang La: From Chandigarh again we started at 7:30 AM. It was better ride as we were entering into Himachal Pradesh comparatively colder part of India. Traffic was there but not like Delhi. With some patchy roads under construction we moved through hilly terrains with panoramic view of damns on rivers and a very long tunnel we reached Manali by evening. Manali is the place from where we don’t need any fan or air-conditioning even in peak summers and it was pleasant to stay there. Next day we started early to avoid traffic at Rohtang Pass (a big tourist attraction) but we couldn’t avoid big traffic jam with cars, horses and travelers enjoying the snow. Finally we passed them and barely after 1 km ahead of Rohtang traffic vanished like it never existed. Sachin our lead told us “Rohtang La defines the difference between a tourist and a traveler. Only travelers go pass Rohtang”. This we found it to be absolutely true, while we drove till Keylong.
Day 4 Sarchu: Near Keylong, There is a fuel station at Tandi and next fuel station is after 350 KMs. Before starting we got our fuel tanks full and we also kept some fuel in reserve. From here we were strongly instructed to not to ride alone due to remote nature of terrain. As we rode further terrain changed dramatically. From thick green mountains till Keylong, vegetation started to disappear and mountains turned brown, yellow and white as we moved to higher altitudes. In this ride we crossed ice covered “Baralach La” and after this we first experienced the effect of height and cold. Actually in hills as you climb on towards the passes conditions worsens because of lack of oxygen and cold. It is recommended that one should not spend more than 30 minutes in this height but because of snow on the road we had to stay there for more than 1.5 hours, till army bulldozer cleared the ice from road. While we reached Sarchu, there was not a single rider who was not suffering with mountain sickness. Sleeping in ad hoc tents increased the difficulties. But still next morning we were all ready on our bikes at 7:30 AM.
Day 5 Leh: One can complain over waking at 6:30 and starting latest by 7:30 AM but still that gives you an advantage. In early mornings snow on roadsides doesn’t melt and you can avoid slipping and soaking socks and shoes in icy water splash (That is still unavoidable). In this ride we crossed The Gatta loops, which are 21 loops of hair band shapes, Lachunglung La and Tanglang La world’s second highest motorable pass. Lastly after driving 1 hour after sunset we reached Leh. Leh is the biggest city in Ladakh region and is an oasis between high mountains. To our relief next day was reserved for rest so that both riders and bikes and get time to overhaul .We spent the day in relaxing and visiting nearby places in Leh.
Day 6-7 Khardung La and Hunder: Finally the day came I always dreamed of. Our raid toward Khar-Dung-La started in morning 8 AM. The distance between Leh to Khardung La is about 40 KM and altitude difference between these two places is 8000 feet, so you can imagine how steeper this ride would have been. While we started it was raining drizzling and it turned into snow fall as we climbed towards Khardung-La and kept getting worst. We drove on snow covered road with minimum visibility and our hands and feet became numb. I would like to mention with my bike, I was never in trouble. Despite the fact that because of lack of Oxygen combustion in bike doesn’t happen properly and power is reduced drastically, it crossed every hurdle with a roar and I reached Khardung La top at 12:30 PM (25-June-10). In this height and cold camera batteries survives only for few minutes and as per instructions we left Khardung la in 20 mins and reached Hunder camp, an oasis with sand dunes, one the remotest parts of India.
Day 8-9-10-11 Kaza and Kalpa (Spiti-Kinnaur valley) “The Eye Opener”: While returning we followed same way up to Keylong. After spending a week in heights we were quite acclimatized to heights and cold and we also had experience to drive through passes. Now we were quite confident to drive the roads comparatively in lesser heights. However there were virtually no roads from Keylong till Kaza! Actually every year road on this patch is blown away by glaciers and landslides and just small maintenance takes place. More ever we arrived earlier in the season so we got what glacier had left for us to drive. We crossed heavy streams of freezing water, drove on boulders and gravels and crossed “Kunjum Pass” to Kaza a beautiful town in Spiti Valley. In evening I asked Chris Chong a rider from USA about the ride and he said “It was the Eye Opener”.
Next day we drove towards Kalpa in Kinnaur valley and entered to the inhabitation again. We were instructed to ride with extreme care, as for days we rode in serene mountains with no traffic. Again we passed lush green mountains, waterfalls, apple and walnut orchids and just touching Tibet-China border we reached Kalpa. Kalpa is a beautiful Himachal town from where clear view of mount Kailash can be observed. In Hinduism mount Kailash is considered as the residence of Supreme Lord Shiva. Next morning I woke up with the distant sound of hymns coming from a monastery. Entire atmosphere there was so calming and soothing that one can feel himself nearer to the god. But still we had to drive on, may be for that time.
Day 12-13 Completing Himalayan Odyssey: While we reached nearer to low grounds again, pre monsoon showers had been started towards our ride to Narkanda. We rode through rains in mountains, passed from some of the famous tourist spots like Chail and Shimla and stayed in Parwanoo.
Final Day Ride: After Parwanoo, Delhi remains only 6 hours ride but it seemed never ending for us. We were all having beautiful mountains, passes, streams, monasteries, stupas in memories but traffic and summers in front of eyes. Our bikes were not in the shape as they were in while we started the Odyssey. Finally we reached Delhi at 3:00 PM and gathered again to celebrate evening organized by Royal Enfield and were awarded certificates for completing Himalayan Odyssey 2010.Next morning people started to leave to their destinations across the world with some of the best memories left behind in the mountains of Himalayas…..
Some Facts and Figures about Himalayan Odyssey 2010:
1) There were around 65 riders in the contingent including journalists and experts from motor sports magazines. All 65 riders reached Khar-Dung-La top and rode back. This is record after HO 2005.
2) Almost 80 % riders had incidents like slipping off the bike and minor damages but none was major luckily I wasn’t one of them.
3) We covered around 3000 KMs in round trip.
4) Total cost of incurred for me including riding gear, fuel and food is approx. $1000 to $1200.
