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An IT professional and his Royal enfield on a journey very few will take.
Most of you may have heard about Ladakh region in himalyas.It very famous tourist place in north india.
There is another place which shares boundaries with ladakh and has the same culture and geography as ladakh but is unkown to many becuase of its rough terrain.The place is called SPITI VALLEY.Tempratures can be as minimum as -20'C and snowfall can block roads anytime which means my 6 days plan can be extended to 10 days or maybe 20 depending upon the weather.but a man's got to do what a man's got to do :mchappy: I have been there in summers of 2015 and the day i came back was the day i promised myself to visit the place in winters.FYI the place remains cut off from rest of India in winters due to heavy snowfall , avalanches , rains etc.The BRO does a good job restoring roads in a few days if weather permits but mostly if you are stuck there , you are stuck for a few days. So now i have the chance to fulfill what i have dreamed for 2 years.Enfield is ready, Roads are open , Weather forecast looks good too and I am ready to go and conquer all white spiti. I am leaving for spiti on 25th Feb morning and plan is to do the 1000+ kms journey with more that 70% of road under snow, slush , black ice and god knows whatever and return back to work on 2nd march.And once back i will have a story to tell you all for sure. P.S : attaching a teaser of what it will be like.These pics were taken by a biker buddy who went there in march end when there is less snow on roads and Roads are almost open.I am going to this early in feb and there will be a lot of snow as compared to what you will see in the pics. http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...2/Spiti269.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...2/IMG_1019.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...2/IMG_0966.jpg |
Good luck with your trip, don't forget your thermals, you will need them.
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Yikes! I am not sure I have it in me to ride that road on the nicest of spring weather days...
Best of luck - I hope your ride goes well! |
Don't forget your snow chains:oops2:
Good luck you are one brave man :scooter: |
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a few years ago i was afraid of heights and now i am riding on oen of the worlds highest roads |
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weather forecast show clear weather for this week so i am hoping not to find that much snow on roads. |
Wow! I look forward hearing about it when you're back, take care!
:freezing: Claire |
So guys i am back from the trip and as there is no mobile connectivity and thus no internet there i couldnt post any pics for a week.
So here is a trailer of what it was like : http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...3/DSCN4108.jpg |
Background :
Visted Spiti valley in 2015 june/july and it was the first long run for me and the bull.Ever since i used to ask myself what it would be like to visit spiti in winters.That question was something i wanted to answer but couldnt do it last year due to less holidays in hand.I had joined THE BULLET CAFE last year after riding with them on the occassion of RE ONE RIDE.After doing a few weekend rides with them i told Sumit the owner of the cafe about the trip.He said he would love to join in.He became father recently and as such i was unsure about it.It was not a good idea as there are a lot of responsibilities involved.At one time i almost cancelled the trip but told myself that it could be the last chance i had to do it.I had made up my mind that i will be going to spiti for sure.Alone or with the group was still a question. only a month left and i again asked sumit if he is going to spiti.He said lets do it in april or may which was not an option for me as i wanted to experience spiti in extreme winter and april/may were too late for that.I told him that i had taken leaves and i will be doing it in feb end solo.I started preparing for the trip and a couple of days later sumit told me that he will be going with me and asked me to make an event and share it on our whatsapp group.Names starting pouring and at the end the final list was of 7 riders.Dates were fixed and we were to leave Zirakpur on 25th and return by 2nd march.Got the things needed , prepared the bikes , changed tyres for more grip on slush and Sumit arranged for some extra help from a local resident of tabo Mr rajinder bodh who was in chandigarh.he was known to sumit's uncle. |
INTRODUCTION :
Sumit dar : Owner of THE BULLET CAFE ZIRAKPUR. Rides a 98 model standard bullet. http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...N3558-copy.jpg Vishnu pattath : From kerela working in chandigarh.Rides a DS 500 longest run till manali. http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...N3581-copy.jpg Bhanu pratap singh : from panchkula.Army brat and youngest member of the club.Pillion for the trip as his bike developed a major fault a day before departure. http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...N3578-copy.jpg Anik : Lives in noida and rides a classic 350. http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...N3552-copy.jpg Deepinder singh :Senior rider of the club and Anik's father.Owns a 2002 bullet standard and joined in for anik :grin: http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...N3582-copy.jpg Yudi Goyaal : Zumba trainer and Indiatv intern.Rides a bullet standard.Did ladakh last year solo. http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...N3583-copy.jpg And, Myself Vikramjeet singh manhas.From jammu working in zirakpur.Ride a Bullet electra and have done spiti in 2015. http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...9_save-01.jpeg |
while the pics are processing you may go through a video which we made while on the trip to overcome the cold.we danced like hell on reaching spiti and it was fun.hope it brings a smile on your faces too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I8rM3PvF0I |
Start - DAY 1 :
The plan was to start at 4 AM so that we can cover atleast tapri or reckong peo but when there are 7 riders delay is bound to happen.We could only start at around 6:30 The first stop of the day was chachu da dhaba at barog which is a very famous eating point for sunday rides.It never disappoints you and the gud ka prantha is a must try. Did bfast and then there was no stop till narkanda as we bypassed shimla due to shimla being famous for traffic jams and we didnt wanted to loose time there.But the first problem of the trip happened before we reached taradevi.Sumit's bikes carb was creating some problems and he wanted to change it but we couldnt find it and were told that we may not find it anywhere above shimla.Sumit had some known mechanic in Rampur so we decided to ride till rampur and then get his bike checked there.At narkanda we filled up tanks and also the extra cans were taking along just in case.Next stop was rampur where we went to the mechanic who told us that the bike was doing great and there will be no problem with it.we had lunch at cafe satluj and it was late than what i had initially planned.Due to late start and then the time we wasted at shimla looking for carb i was unsure if we could make to tapri.But we kept riding and as it was getting dark already we decided to look for options at bhava nagar.I knew thatnks to BCMT that there was a PWD RH there so enquired about it and went there only to find that the caretaker had already left for home.we were a bit worried as it was already dark and now the RH was without a caretaker which means we might have to ride till tapri which was another 20 kms from there in dark.luckily there were some HP ayurveda employees staying there on duty.One of them Mr kashyap was glad enough to call the cook of the RH back who in turn gave us one room and one dorm for the night.We were served food too and what else could we have asked for. The first Kalol of the trip : We bought some sleeping bags from an army store before going to this trip.That Night we opened them for the first time only to find that they were of small size.Atlast we had to put on extra clothes and then use those sleeping bags as blanket to keep us warm. The Gang at the cafe : http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...19-01-copy.jpg At Barog : http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...28-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...38-01-copy.jpg Shimla Bypass : http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...46-01-copy.jpg View from Narkanda: http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...-01-copy-1.jpg Satluj View : http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...-01-copy-1.jpg Rampur: http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...87-01-copy.jpg PWD RH Bhava Nagar: http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...94-01-copy.jpg |
DAY 2 :
As we were already behind schedule, we were supposed to be ready by 6 AM but again the numbers proved a bit difficult for us to maintain.We could only start a 9AM.The first stop was Tapri which was 18 kms from there.I had predicted that it will take us atleast 45 minutes to reach tapri as last year the road from wangtu to tapri was in a very bad shape and you could only ride on it at 20km/hr max without breaking anything in the bike.We reached wangtu in 15 minutes and were surprised to see a tar road instead of gravel and sand leading to tapri.It was a surprise as for the last 2 years i have been on that road and both time it was hell.But this time it took us only 15 minutes to reach tapri.it was so well maintained this time.Had breakfast there and got some warm waterproof shoes which i forgot at the dhaba we had bfast.When i remembered about it , we were already at powari so going back for the shoes to tapri was out of question. Roads from tapri to Spillo were in good shape and even the road with the "Worlds most treacherous road" board was in good condition.Reached powari and fueled up as it was the last working petrol pump now and next one would be in Kaza which was still another 200 kms. We had planned to reach tabo as sumit had arranged for our stay there.But as we had already started late and due to frequent stops for photography which no could have said no to given the fact that the views enroute were awesome, we could only reach nako at around 4:30 . The first encounter with black ice came before KA village but everyone got out of it easily as it was not a long patch. The dhaba at the helipad was opened and we had lunch there and also enquired about rooms available for the stay.But there was still light and i knew we could reach chango easily before dark i asked others if they were willing to try for chango instead of halting at nako.Everyone agreed.now the biggest fear was crossing malling nallah.I expected more black ice and slush there but to my surprise it was all clear.The only problem we had happened with sumit's bull when its front brake got jammed while climbing the malling nallah.Lulcking i was close enough to see him struggling and parked my bike to push his bike.But after pushing it for 10 metres only i had to stop to take rest.What could you expect at a place 13000ft above sea level.This was bound to happen once done with that it was a smooth ride till chango less we knew that we had more in store for us.after crossing kazigs we wasted a lot of time in photographs as we were planning to halt at chango itself and it was still not dark.so we thought why not spend some time here clicking pics and having fun.It was already past 6 and when we reached chango we were shocked to find everything except a general store closed.I asked the man at the store about hotels and his answer was what i feared.None is open.you may find one in nako or sumdo.Everyone was a bit worried but none was as worried as i was. Reason ? I had been to spiti before and knew what the stretch from chango to sumdo was.Its the worst stretch of the whole ride till kaza.Shooting stones , landslides and what not.this was what i wanted never to happen. http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...02-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...26-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...40-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...38-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...36-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...62-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...64-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...py-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...76-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...85-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...96-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...97-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...03-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...05-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...09-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...-01-copy-1.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...42-01-copy.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...-01-copy-1.jpg http://thebullrider.in/wp-content/up...79-01-copy.jpg |
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