[freedom]

Originally Posted by Waspune

Keep it coming Mr Sinha. This is truly encouraging in every sense. A big thumbs up to you. Also loved your narration and language.

I have a noob question: What differentiates a mountain bike from a hybrid bike?

I am sure that mutton curry rice that you had for your dinner would have pepped you even more for the remaining days

In cricket parlance you can think of hybrid bikes as bowling all rounders and batting all rounders.

Hybrids typically have lighter weight than a MTB but a more relaxed geometry than a road bike, A frame of a Hybrid is usually more upright than a MTB but more relaxed than a road bike

Hybrids are meant to be ridden on tarmac (like road bikes) but can take a bit of a beating on some untarred road with ease as well.
Hybrids have bigger tires (side wall and width) than road bikes.
Hybrids (and specifically cyclo cross bikes) are great for touring.

MTBs forte is riding on rocks or slippery tracks. Another advantage is those fat tires is you can get a very comfortable ride.
MTBs are an overkill for riding on roads. They are slower and heavier (for the same price).

But Bike is secondary Take a bow @mr.sinha

[KAUBMW7]

Excellent mate. What a t-log and what a ride

You Sire, are the epitome of a travel enthusiast & guys like you on Team BHP are what made me join this wonderful community. Keep it going and can't wait for more updates.

PS: I read about an elderly couple doing a trip to England from here on their X5 and reading your log reminded me of theirs.. age is indeed only a number !

[alphadog]

Amazing trip and kudos to your determination and superhuman effort in completing the journey on your own. I am an avid cyclist but ride a road bike on relatively flat roads.I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to keep chugging along, climbing in the rarefied air of the Himalayas.

The pictures are great too. well deserved 5 stars.

Thank you for taking us through your journey. Keep riding and keep traveling.
Cheerio!

P.S- as a doctor, I cannot help myself but to advise you to quit smoking.

[mr.sinha]

Thanks to all of you who took the patience to read the travelogue and appreciated it.

In my whole journey of 9 days, I came across just 7 cyclists. Unfortunately, none of them from India - all were from different countries of Europe. Out of these 7, there were 2 couples, including a couple probably in their early 60s (both extremely fit and healthy), 2 young guys riding together, and just 1 solo guy like me. All off them were riding from Leh to Manali, hence I came across them.


DAY 4. 3-AUG-2017. Darcha - Patseo - Lower Zingzingbar - Upper Zingzingbar. 27 kms.

Today, distance-wise, it was going to be short, just 30 odd kms, but the target elevation was going to be vastly different where the elevation gain was going to be over 3,000 ft. Today's stretch was completely uphill road, quite steep before Zingzingbar. This is where you start stepping into serious elevations on the MLH. Until now, you were dealing with 10-11k ft other than Rohtang, but today you climb to 14k+ ft. and stay north of that for the rest of the journey until after you cross the mighty Tanglang La. This is the zone where you can get afflicted with AMS, this is where the remoteness of the barren stretches, and there are many such vast stretches, can get to you, and this is where your lungs crave for more oxygen. Up until now, the settlements and small & large villages on the MLH were almost frequent, but soon after you set out from Darcha, the remoteness and the elevation slowly starts creeping upon you, especially on the road to ZZB after Patseo, then to Baralacha La, and especially the remotest part of MLH being the Gata - Nakee La - Whisky Nullah - Lachulung La - Pang stretch.

Got up in the morning after a refreshing sleep and had my daily usual breakfast of tea and biscuits. Bought my daily quota of 4 liters of water, and started riding.
The tarred road disappears soon until it resumes again near Patseo. Even though it was cloudy, the rains were on hold. Last 3 days, it had rained a lot, I was sick and tired of it, and I was hoping for some dry weather for a change.

Before I started from the hotel, I enquired with some locals about the water crossings ahead, and they said it would be OK if I can make it early enough, otherwise as it gets hotter, the water volume could increase from the melting ice.





After sometime comes a split in the road. A branch road goes off towards Zanskar and Sach Pass, while the main one continues to Leh.




The river flowing through Darcha below and the landscape it cuts through.





And riding and panting and riding and panting. Hardly any traffic today.



Woman on road-side is from a nearby village, and she is trying to get a mobile signal near the edge of the cliff.




Lots of mountain streams on the way due to the recent rains.




And here comes the first water crossing of the day. It was not too deep, but you couldn't cycle through it without getting below the knee wet, so I followed my usual routine of changing to sandals and walking the cycle across. Besides there are uneven rocks under the water, so there is a good chance you can take a tumble and get everything wet, and get hurt if you hit those rocks. So the safest way is to walk the cycle through the water crossings, even though the water is so ice-cold that by the time you reach the other side, you need to hop around a bit to get the circulation back into your legs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EviEAqJX9kQ

Very soon, reached Deepak Tal just before Patseo. I took a good break of 30 minutes here, just resting by the lake and eating snacks and hydrating myself. There was a BRO worker who was walking back to his camp at Patseo. We had a good chat. He was kind enough to offer tea at the camp, but I declined.





After a nice break, reached Patseo after another steep climb. There is a tent with beds available if you wanted to stay during the night.





After crossing the army camp at Patseo, the road becomes all remote and silent with only the gurgling sound from the river flowing along the highway. The river stays with the highway till upto ZZB before the road parts ways and climbs up to Baralacha La. I think this is the Bhaga river, or could be the Chandra river. Not sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIGCFOsYHxo

One more water crossing comes along.






The river temporarily disappearing into a natural tunnel.



About 1 km from Zingzingbar now. Shouldn't get too excited. This is only the lower ZZB. The upper ZZB would be another 8-10 kms and quite a steep uphill. But lower ZZB is where I would eat lunch if I could find some.

[mr.sinha]

<DAY 4 continued>

Found a single tent serving lunch at Lower ZZB.






Lunch was dal-chawal and omelet with lots of green chillies. The dal was awesome, but this is where I started losing my appetite, which would continue till I reached Leh. I couldn't eat even half the rice and omelet, just finished the dal and concluded lunch.

You'd think that after many hours of back-breaking riding with hardly anything to eat, you would jump on any food. But somehow my stomach started revolting at the sight of food from here onwards. Perhaps this was due to some kind of AMS effect. Except the food part, I was otherwise feeling fine, no headaches or anything.

Anyway, after the lunch break, started climbing again towards upper ZZB. Progress was slow, it was a steep uphill from here, and I had to take frequent breaks to catch my breath and reset my heartbeat to normal.

Lower ZZB down below as I climb up. The yellow tent on the left is the lunch tent. Rest are temporary shacks by BRO workers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuTxAMtz9Fo

20 kms from here to Baralacha top. Upper ZZB was now about 5 kms away. Totally barren and rocky mountains all around now. All vegetation has disappeared. Thankfully, it was mostly sunny with no rains today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EReHJPRpI4

After a couple of hours more, finally reached what is called as Upper Zingzingbar. B.La top was about 15 kms from here - my target for tomorrow.
For today, I was happy to find a bed in one of the three tents (Snow View Dhaba) that were open here. I reached by afternoon and it was still sunny, so spent some quiet time lazing on a chair in the sun. Bed rent was 200 rupees. Modest accommodation, but it would do. There is also a small Shiv mandir here.

This settlement is very remote, and the few tents would remain here till about mid-October before they packed up and went back down to their villages, mostly near Darcha.

Nothing really to do after the sun goes down, so had some soup and went to bed. Didn't have the appetite for solid food.

The weather today was spectacular, and I was hoping it would remain that way tomorrow when I would start my climb to Baralacha top.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHXqSP-TwlQ

<END OF DAY 4>

[sandx]

Thread rated 5. It is an extraordinary journey that you have undertaken indeed mr.sinha. I was filling up my team-bhp membership application when I came across this thread for the first time and it helped me fill out a few lines more. Hats-off to your will and determination, truly amazed.

The narration and the pictures adds to the depth of your story in here.

[Cool_leo_guy]

Sinha sir,
You rock. I am also going through a midlife crisis at 42+ yrs of age. The body and mind both are out of shape and the will to change was slowly getting eroded with the passage of time. But, and this is a big but, I came across this awe inspiring account of your epic adventure and suddenly I find the spark rekindled and the flame burning bright. Thank you for such inspiration. Now I think I will finally get a bit control over the hitherto wayward mind and body. Thanks again.

[VindyWheels]

What an adventure Sirji! A big salute to you. I find riding 50 kms in Goa difficult that too on a hybrid bike.

[svsudhir]

Mr.sinha,

A five star rated travelogue that beats the stories on Lonely Planet and other mags. And the five star is not for the way you articulated the journey and your experience,but for your sheer grit and determination to take this journey across a spectacularly breathtaking but unforgiving landscape alone and pulling it off despite all the odds.

Heck man, when it rains youngsters half your age want to spend the day in bed or lazing and here you’re taking on the mountain head-on. Kudos to you. Your story is worth a TED talk!

Many mega serials suddenly vanish off the air leaving the viewers in a limbo... all of us are awaiting your travelogue to continue and trust me if it doesn’t come soon there are many bhpians who might come over to Kolkata just to shake the rest of it off you.

And think of it, one day what a thrilling and inspiring story you will have to share with your grandchildren!

All the best brother. May the force be with you.

PS: I read quite a lot of valuable stuff in Our forum but hardly discuss or comment, but your travelogue has shaken even me and by god how could I not appreciate your incredible effort. I join others in advising you to quit smoking. Give yourself the stage 2 upgrade as commented by LoneRanger.

[himanshugoswami]

Hats off to you sir. As a fellow cycling enthusiast and in the same ball park age as you, this epic ride of yours is really an inspiration. I can barely manage 30-35 kms in one go over weekends, so to see you do this trip, and that too solo, has rekindled my resolve to do long distance biking!

[gypsygenes]

Hi,

Loved reading your trip report. Writing in to say that I stayed in just the same room at Tashi with the same bedsheets and the lovely family who asked me similar questions about my ride etc. Perhaps, they were already conditioned by your responses, so could understand when I had no response to why was I on a cycle and why was I riding alone.

Thank you for writing this.

[the_skyliner]

Fantastic travelogue!! Couldn't resist reading it in one go.

You sir are an inspiration! I am sure there are many who would gather confidence just by reading your story and some of them would even take on the challenge.

Eagerly waiting for the rest of it.

[Kartik Kumar]

This is unbelievable! What an inspiring journey! Eagerly waiting for the rest now.

[vjstanka]

Wow. You are a man of your word Mr.Sinha. I didn't realize that you had such an amazing plan when you said "I have some serious plans in 2017" in my travelogue.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post4102855

Can't wait to read rest of your story.

[mr.sinha]

DAY 5: 4-AUG-2017. Upper Zingzingbar - Baralacha La - Bharatpur - Sarchu. 50 kms.


I had a good sleep last night. Actually I slept well every night of the trip. These frugal road-side shacks do keep ample supplies of blankets and comforters, so if you can somehow put out of your mind when these sheets and covers were last washed, you'd be pretty warm and comfy during a cold night.

Yesterday afternoon had beautiful weather, and I was hoping that would continue into today. So after I woke up, and saw this, I was terribly disappointed. There was a light rain.





So after tea and biscuits, donning my rain coat, I started on the road to Baralacha Top. It was roughly 15 kms from here, and at an altitude of 16,500 ft., this was going to be a vertical altitude climb of nearly 2500 ft from Upper ZZB.

Today I would be crossing over to J&K finally and stay at Sarchu.





Still a while to go. Breathing was getting more difficult as I approached 16,000 ft. and I had to take frequent breaks.
Traffic was very light today - saw just a few trucks and bikes in the first few hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3qP2DuKvKo

Finally, reached the high altitude lake of Suraj Tal at 16,050 ft. The rains had stopped and the weather had somewhat cleared up by then. This is one beautiful Himalayan lake with a turquoise green hue. I wondered if this lake also changed hue on a sunny day, like the Pangong.

Last time I passed through here in 2014 in my Scorpio, I didn't even stop here. But this time, I could really appreciate the true beauty of the lake and the surroundings.







Still 3 kms to Baralacha top. Riding had become increasingly laborious above 16,000 ft and I had to catch my breath after every 100 pedals. But I was also eager to reach the top.

And finally, I made it. Spent about 20 minutes here. It felt very lonely but extremely peaceful.








The orientation of the video got messed up a bit, but if you bend your head to the right, you can enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo-dSWhQvoA

Having conquered the climax of the day by around noon, I felt pretty relaxed. Rest of the road to Sarchu, nearly 35 kms was going to be much easier, even though there would be some uphill sections.

The tar-topped downhill ride looked attractive and this would continue till Bharatpur.





Some unfortunate truck accidents from the past. Long tumble down the cliff.



A mini-glacier right by the side of the road.





Another water crossing - a pretty wide one this.



These streamlets coming down the side of the mountains were a sight to see.



After a brief tea stop at Bharatpur, continued towards Sarchu. The tar disappeared soon after.






<DAY 5 to be continued>