Well what can I say about today. We have taken a different route than previous years, due
to the monsoons. 220kms on the roads we were on made this part of the ride more of an endurance excersize. Throw in a truck broken down and a pile of vehicles either side of it as they couldn't get passed. An hour delay. We were away at 4.00am & got into Kaza at 7.00pm absolutely shattered.
The scenery on the way was breath takingly spectacular which more than out weighed the tough riding.
The first pass was Rotang Pass 12952 feet, pockets of snow around us, the road was very windy, with parts of the road washed away, there was also a village at the top, I would say to house the workers who are constantly working on the Pass. There was a very long stretch before the next Pass. This part of the road was in very very poor condition, mostly rubble, gravel & lucky dried mud. A truck had broken down on a very tight corner, so vehicles were backed up behind it & in front of it as they couldn't get past. There was just enough road for the bikes to get around. As we rode this stretch of road the scenery was truely
magnificent, with a river below & mountains on either side, we when though dozens of water crossings, some small, some large, all but two we were able to ride through two up. the two that were difficult required help from other riders & Atul's crew to help get the bikes through as the water was quite deep & moving fast, with mostly boulders under it. This is a main road to, & cars & trucks had to get through them to, amazing. You wouldn't want to buy a used car from the Northern Indian area. LOL. We stopped for lunch in the middle of nowhere, & here was what would be the equivalent of truck stop, with 4 make shift tents, quite large built over the remains of old buildings, using the stone walls as support for the roof. Maggi noddles for lunch, GOD they were good. We waited for some time for the rest of the group. About 2kms up the rode one of the more aggressive riders had fallen off through a crossing & his bike ended up about 15 feet down a bank, he seemed ok, his bike was retrieved, somehow the mechanics, got it back together & running, some panelbeating & a new set of forks which Atul had as spare. This caused us further delay on what was our
longest riding day. This was a long & very difficult part, hard on the bodies. We arrived at Kunzum La Pass, which was 14900 feet high, at the top was a Buddist Shrine. Again a very very windy road in poor condition. Off again, getting a bit tired, a few stops, next thing we are riding through a road that had been carved out of a cliff, with rock over hanging us, a quite narrow road, no barriers and thousand foot drops, wow, that was exciting, not to far from Kaza that goodness, the last 30 or 40 kms were hard work. Got to Kaza in one
piece, then bugga me the power went out.
Dinner & a few drinks by candle light, lucky they cook with gas. The power never came back on so doing things in our room was done by braille.
A great tiring day was had by all.
to the monsoons. 220kms on the roads we were on made this part of the ride more of an endurance excersize. Throw in a truck broken down and a pile of vehicles either side of it as they couldn't get passed. An hour delay. We were away at 4.00am & got into Kaza at 7.00pm absolutely shattered.
The scenery on the way was breath takingly spectacular which more than out weighed the tough riding.
The first pass was Rotang Pass 12952 feet, pockets of snow around us, the road was very windy, with parts of the road washed away, there was also a village at the top, I would say to house the workers who are constantly working on the Pass. There was a very long stretch before the next Pass. This part of the road was in very very poor condition, mostly rubble, gravel & lucky dried mud. A truck had broken down on a very tight corner, so vehicles were backed up behind it & in front of it as they couldn't get past. There was just enough road for the bikes to get around. As we rode this stretch of road the scenery was truely
magnificent, with a river below & mountains on either side, we when though dozens of water crossings, some small, some large, all but two we were able to ride through two up. the two that were difficult required help from other riders & Atul's crew to help get the bikes through as the water was quite deep & moving fast, with mostly boulders under it. This is a main road to, & cars & trucks had to get through them to, amazing. You wouldn't want to buy a used car from the Northern Indian area. LOL. We stopped for lunch in the middle of nowhere, & here was what would be the equivalent of truck stop, with 4 make shift tents, quite large built over the remains of old buildings, using the stone walls as support for the roof. Maggi noddles for lunch, GOD they were good. We waited for some time for the rest of the group. About 2kms up the rode one of the more aggressive riders had fallen off through a crossing & his bike ended up about 15 feet down a bank, he seemed ok, his bike was retrieved, somehow the mechanics, got it back together & running, some panelbeating & a new set of forks which Atul had as spare. This caused us further delay on what was our
longest riding day. This was a long & very difficult part, hard on the bodies. We arrived at Kunzum La Pass, which was 14900 feet high, at the top was a Buddist Shrine. Again a very very windy road in poor condition. Off again, getting a bit tired, a few stops, next thing we are riding through a road that had been carved out of a cliff, with rock over hanging us, a quite narrow road, no barriers and thousand foot drops, wow, that was exciting, not to far from Kaza that goodness, the last 30 or 40 kms were hard work. Got to Kaza in one
piece, then bugga me the power went out.
Dinner & a few drinks by candle light, lucky they cook with gas. The power never came back on so doing things in our room was done by braille.
A great tiring day was had by all.
WOW -- 220kms in one day. YES that would have been quite a feat!! Especially with someone chucking his bike over the side!
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