The Mother of all Cycling expedition Manli-Leh - Painting it Green at Tanglang la

A morning at Tso kar lake is serene. Emotions run high, yet there is calmness in the air. Tandava shared his homemade medication to help get relief from Cold and cough.  But the relief I was looking forward was staring straight at me. The last mountain pass to Leh and the highest of them all. 

We took a stroll around Tso Kar in the morning. The military routines were pretty laid out for me by now. We took the opportunity to click a few Goupfies.  Just like Rohtang, we decided to wear the BWCC Jersey for this last leg.  Kind of you start with you end with syndrome you can say. 

We took a circumferential ride around Tso Kar and climbed up the hillock to join the road that connects Debring to Pangong. This time it wasn't as bad as the Biskey Nala climb. The unpaved road led to a semi paved one pretty much undulating downhill towards Debring. Each side flanked with mountains and shepherds grazing their sheep. 

Unlike the other passes, you can see the top of the pass from the bottom of the climb at Debring. It is a 22km uphill through the shoulders of 3 mountains. As with Gata , we decided to break it into phases of climb with the longest at the beginning and decreasing intensity as we went along. All through the journey BWCC pillars - I Satnam and Bobby hadn't ridden together, this time it wasn't going to be. As I started the ascend, I noticed a tramp with his mules walking up towards the pass through the mountain trail. The experience of Chang La told me that it will get tougher at the end and would need multiple 100 meters break to climb up. 5-4-4-3-2-2-1-1 is how we finally completed the journey. Unlike Chang La , the tarmac is  pretty good.

As I ascended towards the top, I met 3 bikers from my district who  were riding from Chandigarh to Srinagar via Leh. After 3 hours of climb Tanglang La, was conquered. Pretty much everyone made it around the same time. Exhilarated at the feat, we moved to wards the Post and clicked a few pictures. Indian Army personnel were painting the Milestones and we decided to help them a helping hand. Indeed we had painted Tanglang la Green!

Unlike the other passes, this one has a Dhaba at the top. We decided to have Ginger Lemon honey and packed Lunch there. As I stopped inside the tent, I heard bells ringing. Bells here at this time? My curiosity grew, I came out and to my surprise, I saw the same tramp with the mules whom I saw during my ascent. The hill folks have Extra Large Lungs!!! After a 30 minute break (which was unlike our other passes) we decided to ride downhill. Our camping point was going to be Rumtse village, exactly opposite the 80km milestone towards Leh.

I have many times felt vocabulary is not enough to describe Himalayas and the people in the hills. Spectacular, Beautiful, Out of the world seemed meaningless when I see the scenery and meet them. I leave you with few of the pictures that hopefully describe it.

As I rode down, I came across patches where the snow had started to melt and streams emerged. There was one last crossing which was dealt with with ease.

Now that the ride was coming to an end and there was enough time, we took time out capture a few photos. Saurabh promised that last campsite was going to be the most beautiful. And it did not disappoint. Flanked by two hills and a stream flowing through the campsite, this was indeed an excellent location mid-way through the downhill to Karu.

The stream was cold, but I couldn't resist the bath. It felt so good.. This was going to be the last evening with the support staff at the camp, so we gathered around, got few goodies and wrote a Thank you letter (in Hindi) to them. The names Tare bhai, Tashi bhai, Panna bhai, Rajesh will stay with me till end of life.

Unfortunately the BSNL booth at Rumtse village was not functioning because of disconnection. I walked down the main road to check feasibility of BSNL Mobile. I asked a villager about the possibility. I was disappointed when she mentioned that it may be out of order for few more days. Seeing my disappointment, she said, "Sir spend time enjoying the beauty of our village". And so we did.

After a stroll, I walked back to the campsite to check out the plans for the last night at the camp. Set aside the local drink, set aside the egg curry, set aside the pasta - well may be difficult, but possible , but a Chocolate Cake in this wilderness? It has to be magic and that is what our Cook did. A cake that described our achievement!! and A quote that said "Have Long Memories"

The debrief for the day was simple, it is done, just enjoy the undulating downhill ride to Leh. A sense of achievement prevailed in the campsite. Some of us had ticked off few boxes. Still, there was another day to go. At Karu, I can trace the trip that I did last year.

That night I slept well. The expectations and the anticipation was over. 80km to Leh looked like piecemeal. Unlike other days, riders were not in a hurry. Relaxed were were and the anxiety of meeting our families who were going to fly in the following morning.

After a few clicks, we bid farewell to the camping team. They would travel back to Manali after a fuel refill at Karu. As we rode down the village road through Lato down to Upshi. All the while flanked by a river on the right and villages with beautiful flowers on the left.

At Upshi is where we had the first sighting of Indus. The river the one which fostered one of the greatest civilization of all time. Starting from China , it was languishing down the hills through to Leh , onward to Kashmir and into Pakistan.

From Upshi it is a slight uphill till Karu. The reminiscence of last year's trip flew through my mind.

The last leg of the ride was an adrenalin rush with speeds up to 40km. Brief stops at Stackna place, Thikshey place and Shey Palace.

Sometimes the pain and anguish become part of your life that you suddenly find you cannot live without. The breathlessness, the pain the anguish, the trials , the tribulations ,the elation of conquering of of the peaks and the debrief at the end of the day had become part of our daily life. Let time stop here!!!!

The advantages of moving out of tent is bathrooms.. An hour bath at hotel Alpine Villa.

Dinner at the Tibetan Kitchen with Trout and Ginger Lemon Honey.

The next day, I spent time getting my family settled in. Few of the riders did the Khardung la ride. 18380 feet above sea level. Wow.

We had a small family gathering and a felicitation function in the evening for Saurabh, Sandeep and Abhishek. 

All the riders shared their experiences during the ride and their feelings. Finally it was All hugs around the room.

Why do riders go the extra mile? Why does someone attempt such expeditions even though one knows that you will be out of your comforts. The reasons vary from person to person. But there is one common factor which I noticed, a war cry that says I don't want to be ordinary!!!!

Yes we are Not Ordinary.. All of us.. We did what many would call the impossible !!!!