Diary of a bike ride

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The story so far.

18 Aug 05, Manali, India

Well, here we are in lovely India. Tomorrow we start the bike ride we have been planning for several months.

It is 477km from here to Leh, our final destination in the Ladakh region of the north of India. The road is open for just over 2 months each year. The rest of the time it is snow covered and towns are completely cut off. The road will be a variety of surfaces. Sometimes tarmac, some gravel and rocks, some mud, some completely stream covered. There are landslides daily and fatalities amongst the truck drivers weekly. It takes 25 hours driving in a jeep to do the route and it is an extremely uncomfortable ride, mostly split over two long days. The route includes several mountain passes, the last of these is the second highest drivable pass in the world at 5250m above sea level.

Neither of us really feels like doing it at the moment. We're feeling a bit soft and worried about all kinds of things: will I get altitude sickness (again); will we run out of food and water, will we get knocked off the side of the mountain by one of the crazy drivers we experienced on our try out ride yesterday. And finally, Monica is worried that we will get kidnapped.

For those of you who don't know us (and we're hoping that there will be a few people who find this page while looking for information on the ride - we will add all of the technical information to the end of this page later this year) "we" are Mike (me) and Monica. We are not cyclists. In the winter we run Snowology, providing ski chalet holidays in France. In the summer we try to sort out our accounts and take bookings. Last summer we went to China, Indonesia and Malaysia with brief stops in Australia and New Zealand on the way back to Canada to visit Monica's side of the family. Monica is 29, fit, capable and adventurous. I am 42, fit enough to chase after Monica and I don't really care where in the world we go as long as we have fun. I prefer to play golf while Monica treks and my favourite place at the moment in Las Vegas where I hope to win the World Poker Championships sometime soon.

We started training for this ride in May. I did the London to Brighton off road bike ride with my good friend Dave Mann. 75 miles on dodgy surfaces in one day. Monica ran around a lot.

Each summer we buy cheap around the world flight tickets. This year we travelled from the UK to Ecuador where we did some diving (superb), some biking (great) and some treking (Monica liked it). Then we went to Canada where we bought our Gary Fisher front suspension, v-brake bikes, panniers and tools and everything else in the shop from the excellent Pedalhead shop in Edmonton. In Canada we spent time with family, Olivia (2) and George (9 months) are such fun and Monica is a much loved Auntie. I took a fantastic trip to Vegas for golf and Poker with Gary who came over from the UK.

Monica and I did a three day training ride in the Canadian rockies - a triangular route from Lake Louise via Golden and Radium. It went well with 100km and lots of vertical height pedaled everyday.

The time arrived for us to venture to India, with a couple of nights in Tokyo (nice) on the way to break the journey. We had booked in to Claridges for our first two nights in Delhi, figuring that the 60% discount available and the chance to recuperate was necessary. Sorry Claridges but you were absolutely rubbish. Perhaps we were naive but we didn't expect to be lied to by the hotel staff about every issue that related to money. It would also be nice if you decided whether you are a hotel or a nightclub. We found this and our experiences with the lying taxi drivers trying and tiring. I am very slow to anger (Monica is supersonic) but I felt my anger levels rising everyday to new levels.

So, equipped with our bikes still in their cardboard boxes we got a train from Delhi and headed north to Shimla. All of the hotels were full because it was Independence day (our fault for not booking ahead) so we set ourselves up at the train station for a night on the platform. We met a lovely English family facing the same predicament and we were set for a crap night's sleep until an Indian man turned up and set about helping us. He arranged for us all to sleep in the Military Office which was superb (a locked door and a roof). The next morning we took the luxury (um?) bus to Manali which took 9 hours. We have been in Manali for the last 3 nights at 2000m which is good for our acclimatisation. We are staying at the Mayflower Hotel which is great but a bit pricey.

Monica misses the kids. So do I but over the years I have got used to spending time away from my sisters' wonderful children. Well done to niece Megan and nephew Stephen on their A level results which we phoned home to get today.

Yesterday we did a try out ride, heading north from Manali for 10km on the road that we will be on tomorrow. I have ridden (assertively) in London a bit and this proved to be bad training for biking out here. One website we researched described the Indian Highway code as "Big is Boss". This is exactly how it is and you will get hit or run off the road or hit if you try to claim a part of the road that a bigger vehicle wants to be on. I thought I was getting the hang of it until Monica pointed out that I had nearly got run over twice in the last 30 minutes.

So far our stomachs are in good shape. We are eating in good restaurants and taking grapefruit seed extract for prevention - it tastes disgusting but thanks Louise for the tip. We are on various Malaria tablets and I will take my first Diamox tonight for help with acclimatisation.

19 Aug 05

The planned 7.30am departure doesn't happen until 8.40am. We enjoy and Indian breakfast and some toast and convince ourselves that we are going to have fun saying things like "This is going to be good, isn't it?" to which the other person replies "Is it?".Monica is still convinced that we will get kidnapped thought she is not sure by whom. When pushed she says that the Indian army are top of her most likely kidnapper list. Later in the day we find that the Indian army are probably the most fervent wavers on the mountain and would only kidnap us to take us to a party or to shake our hands repeatedly.

Neither of us is a bike mechanic. Monica is a bike hypochondriac. In the first 100m she stops to ask me to stop her brakes from squeaking and to explain why there is so much grease on some part connected to her pedals. Thankfully the brake squeak goes away by virtue of the fact that all of the 37km that we cycle today is uphill. We cycle for 5 hours and 15 mins to get to Marhli (3396m). My bike computer tells me that. It is very smart and only measures our time spent on the move. We were very lucky today. The weather was perfect and there was a small landslide which led to a vehicle getting stuck about 15km from Marhli. The traffic was backed up and people had been waiting for 2 hours to get through. We made our way through the vehicles that had cleverly double parked, completely blocking the road for the time when the obstruction was removed. As a result of all this we had no vehicles following us for the last part of the journey and as I write this it seems that the road is till blocked as the road is still quiet from that direction.

The scenery has been magnificent. Steep rocky mountains rising to 6000m around us. Clear waterfalls abound and meandering streams crossing the road at regular intervals.

Our dinner was delicious. Monica loves the food. She is a great cook and interested in how all the food is made. We had Dum Aloo (potato curry) and mutter paneer (peas and cheese curry). The people here are very nice, almost as nice as the soldiers. We have cheered up considerably and agree that we are definitely enjoying ourselves.

It is pretty cold up here which is a bit worrying as I am wearing nearly all of the clothes I have with me and we will be going much higher later in the trip.

We met some other cyclists when we arrived here. They are a Swiss couple called Marcel and Cornelia. They have found that the government guesthouse is full and together we found a room for 4 people behind the Chamba Dhaba (Cafe) asking price 600 rupees, settled at 400 ($2 each).

Marcel and Cornelia have been cycling in India for around 3 months already, mostly in the south and this is their first experience in the mountains. They have masses of kit, including a stove and spare tyres. Even carrying all of the kit they completed the ride about an hour and a half faster than us, oops.

20 Aug 05

We set off at 8.30am after a breakfast of toast and jam and were climbing straightaway. The roads were quiet and well tarmacced and winded their way to the top of Rohtang La (4000m) which means piles of corpses. Some massive birds of prey flew close and overhead. We admired their size and grandeur until we realised that they were 3m wide vultures and they were going to kidnap us!!

The climb went well, taking 2.5 hours of biking time. On the way up the pass we could see back to where the landslide was still blocking the road, 20 hours later! It took us 80 minutes for the descent on the other side and I was feeling a bit dodgy by the time we sat down for lunch at the dhaba (cafe). I slept rather than ate, Monica was feeling fine and ate her lunch and mine. With only 14km to go to get to Sissu it should have been easy but the road surface and my stomach contrived to slow us down. I was violently sick on the side of the road and felt much better. We arrived in Sissu after 5 hours of biking time. Marcel and Cornelia had arrived 90 minutes earlier. They have been travelling the world on their bikes for the last two and a half years and are heading to Africa for their next and final leg.

21 Aug 05

After a restless night with multiple visits to the toilet we set off for this easy day feeling weak (me) and strong (Monica) but up to it. The road was good, following the river downstream. We covered 9km in the first hour and then hit some great roads, speeding our way to Tandi for lunch for Monica and 2 bottles of fizz and a game of chess against the local champion for me. He had me beat but made a small slip and I scrambled a draw for honour all round. The climb to Keylong (3170m) was fine but tiring in the amazing heat. We have had wonderful weather everyday. We actually beat Marcel and Cornelia to Keylong, partly because we didn't stop for long but mostly because we set off 2 hours before them. They very kindly cooked some noodles and sauce for us in the evening to give me a gentle reintroduction to food. They are planning to spend the next day here cleaning bikes and acclimatising. We think we will spend two days here to give me a chance to get my strength back. We cycled for just 3 hours today.

22 Aug 05

We are staying in the Hotel Tashi Deleg. Probably the nicest hotel here. It has hot water, a terrace and a movie channel. Monica does a great job on the laundry and I set about cleaning the bikes which were dust covered. I don't know what I am doing but I get my hands really dirty. We spend the rest of the day talking about our lives and our future expectations just to confirm that we have no idea what we are doing. We cooked for Marcel and Cornelia using their stove. They head out tomorrow morning.

23 Aug 05

Another lazy/recovery day for us but we get some exercise to keep our lungs heaving. We walked down to the river and up the other side to the monastery. It was a nice walk and we had a great chat as we meandered (lost) up the hillside.

More route planning in the evening - we plan to spend two nights at tomorrow's destination (Patseo - 3800m) to help us acclimatise.

24 Aug 05

Our first successful early departure, riding away from the hotel at 7.20am. It has been so hot that we planned to cover some distance before getting roasted in the sun. It took us nearly 2.5 hours to do the 24km to Jispa for breakfast, the first 11km was a climb on terrible roads but there was little traffic and it wasn't stressful. After breakfast I joined two boys for a game of catch in the road, hoisting the ball high in the air for them to catch. This lasted all of 3 minutes before I got carried away and my overthrow ended up lost in a very big bush. I gave them 10 rupees to get a new ball and signalled to Monica that we should be on our way. The breakfast at the Jispa IBEX hotel was superb and Monica (now fed) was in good spirits.

We pressed on (up and down) to Darcha where the police at the checkpoint were friendly and chatty. It was a scorching day and the combination of the heat, the altitude, the exercise and the Diamox meant that I was very thirsty despite the 5 litres of water that I had already drunk. The last stretch to Patseo seemed to take forever and we were frustrated that we couldn't tell when we were there! From the distance we had seen a multi coloured hut and this turned out to be as much Patseo as any other part. The government run guesthouse was closed and unattended. Someone had left a note on the door saying "Where the ---- are you" It turned out that the manager was in Darcha so we had a chat with a few army lads and camped in the grounds on the guesthouse.

I ventured in to the army barracks to see if they had a tap (no) and ended up playing volleyball with them. They were very friendly and gave the impression that they wouldn't use water pistols in anger. If anyone reading this is thinking on invading India then I would suggest they think again. The army may not be the most impressive but what are you going to do with it when you are here? Our early impressions of the Indian people are now balanced by the friendliness of everyone that we have met on the road. All of the trucks that run us off the road wave merrily as they struggle to retain control of their vehicles with one hand.

It is 6.45pm, the sun has not yet gone down but we will sleep soon (we hope). This place has nothing (except a tent dhaba) so we have changed our plans and we will head over Baralacha La (4900m) and on to Sarchu tomorrow. We expect it to be pretty tough.

25 Aug 05

It was very cold when we got up at 6.15am and we were packed and on the road at 7.40am after a biscuit and a banana for breakfast. A couple of km down the road we passed the main army camp. This was the one for grown ups as everyone had uniforms and it was much more impressive. There was some major road building underway - we could hardly breathe as we past the tar furnaces. The roadbuilders earn around $2 a day and we have come to think of them as our support team. At Zing Zing Bar they gave us a free chapatti and lentil breakfast which was kind. The first 30km of the day was climbing to the top of the pass. We have been feeling ok with the altitude but the road surface was terrible and at times we progressed at less than 5km an hour. we stopped frequently to help our lungs and to drink water. The trucks are a major pain, forcing us off the road while kicking up the dust and throwing out black clouds of fumes that hang in the air forever. When we thought that we were near the top we weren't and another couple of switchbacks would appear. This went on and on and was more than a little disheartening. One of these experiences left Monica in tears and she proclaimed that there was nowhere on earth that she would rather not be. She likened the experience to sitting in a car in a garage with the windows down and the engine switched on, ordering an Indian takeaway while someone threw bags of dust in your face. I presumed that she wasn't speaking from experience.

We reached the top at 3pm after 5 hours of cycling time. We still had 30km to go to Sarchu, most of it downhill but the road conditions coming down were dangerous and slowed us down considerably. We stopped at Barantpur for some chow mein which cheered us both up but then it started snowing. We unloaded the bikes and set about staying the night in the dhaba but then the snow cleared and we got back on the road again. 13km before Sarchu we came across the Blue Poppy Campsite. I was chatting to them when Cornelia emerged from one of the Tibetan style tents. They had had a terrible time on Baralacha La and had taken a day off to recover at the camp. The altitude here is 4536m, a little higher than Sarchu but we will stay here for at least the night. We figure (hope) that the day we have experienced will be the toughest of the trip. We are not half way yet but we have climbed nearly 5000m which should (please let it be) more than half of the climbing.

26 Aug 05

Today we are having a rest day. The main theme of the day is bed bugs. Rising late at 8am we wave off Marcel and Cornelia and have a delicious Tibetan breakfast. We decide to upgrade our accommodation to the quaint 2 bedded tents and negotiate a good price. After moving all of our gear I settle down to do some quality mid-morning sleeping and Monica lies down on the other bed. Ten minutes later Monica discovers 3 red bed bugs on her sheets. They are less than pin head size and smudge red when smudged. The next hour is spent considering our options which range from heading out straightaway to on-the-hour bed inspections. Monica returns to our original dormitory tent and after a thorough (her word) inspection pronounces it bed bug free. It somehow becomes my job to explain to the guys running the place that we will return to the dorm tent. Once back the inspection in renewed and Monica finds 3 more bugs (duly smudged). I decide to lie down with these (so far harmless) bugs and get some sleep. Monica has other plans and erects our tent inner on top of one of the beds. This is now referred to as "the capsule" and anyone or anything that enters it is subject to rigorous bug checks. I am checking our first aid kit for sedatives. If she won't take one then I will.

This afternoon I played some cricket with the guys who run the camp. If the batter hits the ball and it doesn't go to a fielder then he has to go and get it - seems fair enough. I didn't embarrass myself too badly until I displayed my lack of understanding of the Tibetan political situation by asking if there is a Tibetan cricket team (apparently not).

27 Aug 05

Today began with a fabulous ride through Sarchu to the Gata Loops - a series of 21 switchbacks rising 400m immediately followed by the climb to the Nakela Pass a further 300m of climbing. It took us over three hours for the climb - a tough ride but the surface was good and the weather still perfect. Towards the top there were frustrations again as Monica struggled to deal with the false summits and I struggled to support her. We arrived at Whiskey Nullah (4851m) late and exhausted. It is a desolate place with nothing but a couple of grotty tents. We found some space for our tent away from the road and we have set about preparing for a cold night. Monica seems to have her own in-built heating system. I have donned almost every item of clothing that I have with me - 6 layers including a cycle top, 1 long sleeve thermal, 2 t-shirts, 1 fleece jumper and a fleece jacket. I am feeling pretty warm at the moment and may even take my woolly hat off soon.

Tomorrow should be a relatively easy ride to Pang. The road surface is reportedly terrible but it is only 30km with a climb to start the day.

28 Aug 05

We froze last night. So did our water and some of Monica's essential skin care products. We rose as early as we could to find our tent covered in frost. Our ascent out of Whiskey Nullah was straightforward (the road had been tarmacced) and the descent down to Pang was superb, the windcarved sand sculptures on either side of the valley were mesmerising and reached some of fastest speeds of the trip. We were in Pang by lunchtime and feeling pretty good so after a chow mein lunch (again) we decided to do the relatively easy ride that we had planned for tomorrow.

The climb out of Pang was similar to the mornings’ climb and took us to the Moray Plains, 45km of wide flat plains and all above 4500m. The roads were great and we had a tailwind – we felt like we were flying. We decided to head to Tso Kar Lake, a 6km deviation from our route down a sandy track for the night. There is a sign at the turn off saying Deluxe Tent camp but weren’t fooled or surprised to find some people asking for $30 for the use of a scrawny old tent, no food provided. Their faces dropped (but their prices didn’t) when we said that we had our own tent and “no thanks”. We camped beside a group of Europeans who were on a well organised tour and had a cook team travelling with them. We befriended the cook team and they kindly made us a delicious supper, saving us from a second night of cold baked beans from the tin.

Tomorrow we ascend on the second highest road in the world., climbing to 5250m , the highest that either of us has ever been before.

29 Aug 05

The raincoat that I wore to bed did the trick and Monica had me sandwiched against the side of the tent which kept me cosy and warm. The sun rose over the lake and hit the tent early. We lay in a little and the enjoyed the free doughnut and boiled egg breakfast that our new friends had made for us. We paid some dodgy geezer $1 for the camping and shock hands all round before heading back up the sand track to the main road. Once on the road we made our way to the bottom of our main objective, the Taglang La.

We reached the bottom (4800m) at 11am with 90 minutes cycling time under out belts. After snacking on our favourite biscuits (Time Pass for me, Treaties for Monica) we set off on the 20km journey to the top. For the past few evenings we have not been drinking much water, keen to avoid having to leave the warmth of the tent for a cold trek to the nearest bush for the toilet. This meant we weren’t as hydrated as we should have been. After about 30 minutes we were caught by a group of Austrian cyclists who looked the part and were clearly a league or two ahead of us in terms of speed. They have cycled from Pang (40km further than us) that morning, leaving at 7am. They stopped for a snack and we plodded on. Monica led the way all the way to the top. I was feeling tired, breathless and had a mild headache but Monica kept me going, encouraging and cajoling me along. Three of the Austrians passed, the fourth had had altitude problems and had hitched a ride to the top on a truck.

Along the route from Manali we had met many tourists, travelling by bus or jeep. They had asked what we were doing and exclaimed “wow” or “that’s amazing”. We play it down and explain that we’re finding it tough but inside it makes us feel proud and good. And that is how I feel today, after 2.5 hours on this mountain the top is within our grasp, maybe only 40 minutes away and then we will have done it and it will feel very good.

And then something happens. Something that takes away the smug feeling and brings both of us back down to earth. A group of four girls are at the side of the road taking a break on the way down. They are cycling from Leh to Manali which is a harder route, starting with a 1800m ascent out of Leh to the highest point on the ride, the last 40km before the peak is a hideous series of switchbacks. While we were exchanging information with them we noticed that one of the girls was riding a handpowered bike, ridden in a reclined position without using your legs. This formed the front part of a tandem with leg power in the rear and a trailer on the back which carried a wheelchair. Monica and I have found many different parts of the trip tough: getting our bikes here in the first place; finding somewhere to squat in sub-zero temperatures etc but how on earth do you manage to do all these things in a wheelchair? Let alone cycle the Taglang La without the use of your legs. What these girls are doing is amazing.

We reach the top. One of the Austrians is still there adding layers and he kindly takes some photos of us. It is windy and cold and we spend just a few minutes there before setting off on the bumpy road down. After about 6km the road turns to tarmac and we are flying again. We haven’t had any lunch and it is now 4pm. We had hoped to reach the campsite at Lato but settle for some hot noodles in Rumtse and a smelly dusty room behind a shop. We have been riding for 6.25 hours, it is 5.30pm and we are knackered.

Tomorrow should be our last day – we have around 85km to do and plan to rise early. We heard from the 4 girls that Marcel and Cornelia are a couple of hours ahead of us and we would love to finish alongside them and enjoy a celebration meal.

30 Aug 05

Monica had a rough night’s sleep and we rose early to make sure that we made it to Leh today for the very necessary showers. We set off just before 7am which was great and continued down the hill in the freezing shade of the mountains. After around 15km we met Marcel and Cornelia who had just had their second puncture in two days. It was really nice to see them again and we all cycled on to Upshi together for breakfast. Marcel and Cornelia have a stove and so have been able to wash in warm water in the mornings. They sat well away from us at breakfast and we must have looked a pretty sight – nearly 5 days since our last shower and not much washing inbetween. We were pleased to have caught up with them but we were now on our fourth tough day in a row and our tiredness was beginning to show.

We split up again and met with two British lads heading to Manali who seemed like lambs to the slaughter with no water filter system and two days of altitude sickness already under their belts in Leh. They were keen and experienced cyclists and we hope that they make it ok.

The first 50km had flown by but it became increasing hot and it was my turn to encourage Monica on with promises of hot showers and butter chicken curry. She kept pedaling and pedaling up the steep hills for the last 8km to Leh. We had cycled 83km with 6 hours on the bike.

We quickly checked in to the most expensive hotel we could find and Monica went shopping for toiletries while we waited the mandatory hour for the hot water to be turned on. We were very very dirty and it took about 30 minutes of showering to get clean.

We met with Marcel and Cornelia for a celebration meal of pizza and toasted ourselves with cold beers all round. We talked about the high and low points of the trip and our favourite bits of kit and the things that we had carried which were useless.

So, how do we feel now? We are pleased that we have done it, pleased that it is over, we won’t do it again and we won’t recommend it lightly to friends. We are exhausted, skin burnt and bronzed in the sun, lips cracked and muscles aching. We have both lost a lot of weight but feel fit and lean. The highest pass in the world is just 40km climb from here and Marcel and Cornelia have asked us to join them to do it in a couple of days. Umm.

Mike (and Monica) x

31 Aug 05

We subsequently did the ride to Kardang La on 2 Sep 05. Marcel was sick on the day so we went on our own. We set off at 6am and got back at 5.00pm. We got to the top at 2.40pm, after 6.5 hours on the bikes pedaling uphill with a further 1.5 hours for the return trip. It was a tough day but we felt please that we managed it, climbing 1900m to 5500m on a 80km ride.

Overall Stats for the trip

Date 19 Aug 05; bike time 5.25 hours; vertical: 1200m, distance: 37km; max alt: 3396m

Date 20 Aug 05; bike time 5.1 hours; vertical: 950m, distance: 53km; max alt: 3992m

Date 21 Aug 05; bike time 3 hours; vertical: 520m, distance: 32km; max alt: n/a

Date 22 Aug 05; rest day

Date 23 Aug 05; rest day

Date 24 Aug 05; bike time 5.5 hours; vertical: 1013m, distance: 49km; max alt: 3872m

Date 25 Aug 05; bike time 6.6 hours; vertical: 1224m, distance: 51km; max alt: 4984m

Date 26 Aug 05; rest day

Date 27 Aug 05; bike time 6.1 hours; vertical: 930m, distance: 67km; max alt: 5008m

Date 28 Aug 05; bike time 5.9 hours; vertical: 652m, distance: 78km; max alt: 5151m

Date 29 Aug 05; bike time 6.25 hours; vertical: 843m, distance: 69km; max alt: 5454m

Date 30 Aug 05; bike time 5.5 hours; vertical: 572m, distance: 84km; max alt: n/a

Totals for whole trip including Kardang La: bike time 57.2 hours; vertical: 9804m, distance: 600km;