Delhi Bikers

Early morning 'Breakfast Run'. Spangmik to Tangtse. From day into night. We were enthused and refreshed by our miraculous sleep, which felt more like an incredible escape from the jaws of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). The last meal Ray had was the previous day’s lunch but he still chose to skip the breakfast. The Ladakhi drivers advised us to return to Leh instead of going to Tso Kar.  Some said it was “Bone shattering!” while others warned, “there is no road”.  We had already taken a huge risk by riding without acclimatizing and to continue further in our shaky state would have been foolish. The wild shades of the mountain could not hide the blizzard brewing behind it. Adventure motorcycling is about calculating your risks so you can keep riding. Plans are made to serve us not the other way around. Trouble starts when we stubbornly stick to an itinerary when wisdom tells us to be flexible and modify. So we headed back to Leh via Changla. I will never fo...

Like chained elephants they rumbled by. On our way up we had wondered why all those Indian Army trucks had metal chains around their wheels. Now when we were on the other side of Changla Pass, stuck in knee-deep snow, we knew why. Soft snow + road tyres + high altitude = what were we thinking? With fresh snow to fall into and plenty of people to help us up, s lipping and sliding we squeezed past the one truck that had blocked all the traffic. Layer upon layer of Vanilla Ice Cream. The ride down was spectacular! With all the taxi’s held up at the pass, we had the entire road to ourselves all the way to the police check post in Tangtse. By the time I got off my bike I was thoroughly intoxicated by the experience.  Stopped to register at the Tangtse Police Station. Got to pet the dog for free. We hoped the person who rode this is still alive. A wrecked Enfield at the check post put things i...