YHAI National Himalayan Mountain Biking Leh
Day 3 - Transfer to Lamayuru & Trail Bike Ride
The day was finally here. We were scheduled to reach our actual base camp for the mountain biking expedition at Lamayuru. This is the same place which I had heard in a Tata Sky TVC in Ladakh to signify their reach. Post a hefty breakfast we were set to leave for Lamayuru. A customary head count followed by some group photographs and we started getting into the bus. Our actual group size was 30 but since we had some spill over from the earlier batch owing to participants reaching late the group size reached 35 and since the bus remained the same; me, Akhilesh, Mili, Meet & Hamza were left with the option of occupying the staircase. But boy we couldn’t have asked for better seats. We felt all the contours of the roads till Lamayuru. Vamsi was latest entrant into the group.
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| LMB16 - All set to leave for Lamayuru |
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| LMB16 - Final headcount @ Leh base camp |
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| Loading the bus |
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| LMB16 - All set in the bus to Lamayuru |
The bus finally left Jimmy guest house and we soon got onto the Leh Srinagar highway. We passed by the Kargil war memorial: Hall of Fame, Patthar Sahib Gurudwara, Magnetic Hill & the Indus Zanskar Confluence on the way towards a town called Nimmu. We crossed Nimmu and next on the route was Basgo. Nimmu & Basgo were camp sites on the old biking route of the same biking expedition till last year with Lamayuru being the highest camp site. YHAI had changed the route from this year and made it a cyclic route on popular demand since many participants didn’t fancy cycling back on the same route.
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| Towards Magnetic HIll |
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| Magnetic Hill |
We finally reached the army check post at Khaltse. Here is where we met Mithun Das, our camp leader for the biking expedition. He is a legend in HYAI circles. He has almost cycled in every part of India. I had huge respect for him for having the courage to live his passion. He had cycled downhill from Lamayuru till Khaltse. The route from Khaltse till Lamayuru is totally uphill but extremely picturesque and runs parallel to river Indus. While we were seated on the staircase, we had a roller coaster ride. Just before reaching Lamayuru, we passed by the Moonlands. The mountains ranging from yellow to grey resembling the lunar terrain and look totally alien to the Himalayan Mountains. Our campsite at Lamayuru was just adjoining the Leh Srinagar highway and overlooking this amazing phenomenon called the Moonlands.
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| Mithun loading his bike on the bus |
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| Running parallel to river Indus |
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| Cyclist on his way towards Leh |
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| Don't leave us behind :) |
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| Moonlands @ Lamayuru |
We finally reached the campsite at Lamayuru & here is where we met Vinod. He was part of the previous group but could not leave with them since he was unwell. So, he joined our group. We got settled in the tents allocated to us and now it was time for lunch. We had lunch and since there was some leisure time available we decided to check out the local village. We had a pretty good time playing out in the open fields, watching the cattle and spotting the different birds. We returned back to the campsite since we were told that we would be having an orientation on using the bikes along with bike distribution in the afternoon.
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| Lamayuru Camp |
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| Birdie @ Lamayuru Camp |
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| Lamayuru Camp from the local village |
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| Birdie @ Lamayuru Camp |
The setting was ready with floor mats being laid out with 3-4 chairs for the camp leaders. We were greeted by Chetan Joshi who was the programme director and the person who had conceptualized this new route. He was gentle soft spoken individual with a flair for outdoor activities. He formally introduced us to Mithun as our camp leader.
Chetan & Mithun briefed us about the cycling route. The cycling route was as given below.
Day 1: Lamayuru – Khaltse – Domkhar – Skrubuchan
Day 2: Skrubuchan – Achinathang – Sanjak – Sakhar 2
Day 3: Sakhar 2 – Khangral – Haniskot
Day 4: Haniskot – Fotu La Pass – Lamayuru
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| Sumit Patil addressing LMB16 @ Lamayuru Camp |
And now it was time for our bike orientation. And boy we were in for a surprise. The orientation was conducted by non other than Sumit Patil. He is a cycling legend in India. He is only the 3rd Indian to have qualified for RAAM (Race across America); widely regarded as the toughest cycling race in the world. Sumit went about the orientation really well. He answered everyone’s query however trivial they may be. He also informed us that since this was the last batch he would meet us at the Haniskot camp and accompany us to Fotu La pass; the highest point on the Leh Srinagar highway and the pinnacle of our biking expedition. During the session Chetan informed us that Sumit completes the same route in 7 hours that we would be covering in the next 4 days. That was enough to give us goose bumps & signify Sumit’s prowess as an ultra cyclist. And in this own words, Sumit prefers cycling in Ladakh because of the extreme weather condition along with low levels of oxygen provide for the perfect training ground.
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| Get set & go !! |
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| Get set & go !! |
Post the orientation; it was time to finally get our hands on the bikes. This is what we have been waiting for the last 2 days. Bikes were handed out by Mr. Tiwari, the cycling expert and our answer to every cycling problem with the bikes. We took the bikes out for a spin and boy we had a blast just racing the bikes downhill from Lamayuru towards Khaltse and back. We were officially called at around 5 PM for the trial bike ride.
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| Moonlands : another view |
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| Cutie :) |
The trial bike ride commenced just outside the campsite adjoining the Leh Srinagar highway. We assembled and took the customary head count. We were flagged off by our camp director and accompanied by Mithun. We were supposed to cycle uphill for about 3 KM. And just to give you an idea; Mithun informed us that this patch of cycling is the toughest bit of cycling you will do in the next 4 days. If you get through this trial bike ride, the rest of the biking expedition would be a cakewalk.
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| Long way to go !! |
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| All queued up !! |
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| Nearly there !! |
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| Dum Laga Ke Haisha !! |
And boy the uphill started taking its toll on everyone but we were all up for the challenge. And just like our last expedition to Jalori pass, we treated the expedition as a journey and not as a race. We didn’t mind reaching last but intended in feeling the entire route and gaining in as much as possible from the local flavours. The route passed through the Lamayuru village with locals busy in their daily chores. Since it was close to sunset; our main agenda was to reach the pinnacle by sunset and return downhill post sunset.
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| Lamayuru village |
We finally reached the pinnacle and the scene was set for an amazing sunset. We had a ball at the pinnacle with plenty of jokes and photographs. We started the return trip post sunset and reached the campsite in no time since it was all downhill now.
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| Pinnacle point of trial ride |
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| Lamayuru Monastery |
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| Lamayuru Monastery |
We were just in time for soup. We parked our bikes and enjoyed the soup. Here is where we met the final participant; Yogesh. I had spoken to Yogesh while we were in Mumbai when he was stuck in Srinagar. And on the assessment of Srinagar given by him we had changed our route. Had the opportunity to finally thank him in person. Post soup it was time for dinner and the customary campfire. And since YHAI doesn’t allow burning of wood at any of their campsites, the campfire was conducted around an artificial bonfire made out of electric bulbs.
The campfire started off with an official introduction of all the participants. This was followed by lots of songs, dance and a wide range of jokes ranging from across the states. Since we had ample amount of participation from all quarters of India; the campfire was pretty entertaining. Now it was time for sleep. This was the first night of sleep at a high camp and since we were tired from the trial bike ride we didn’t have trouble hitting the sack in no time.
Many more memoirs to share .... Sachin
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