Quest for Gangotri - my first hill ride..

Was going through the docs in my computer and found this triplog. I had written this after coming back from my first trip to the hills.. Njoy (and don’t mind the melodramatic narration.. first ride trough the hills is hair-raising)
The week before was one filled with excitement, a little apprehension, a bit of fear.. Excitement because i was going for a hill ride.. apprehension because of lack of knowledge of skills required for hill ride.. and fear of falling over the edge..
Then came D-DAY, 24 March 2007.. The destination Gangotri and riders Manik, Salil and me. The ride began at 5 in the morning. A time when I was too sleepy to have any feelings.

As the three bikes left the roads of Delhi and entered the highways of UP, the excitement and the concern started seeping in.. "My first trip to the hills.. Will I be able to do it? Was I expert enough a rider? Hills are dangerous, people tell me.." My friends had already had bid me their last farewells. But as the bikes started speeding.. "F*$@ it man.. jo hoga dekha jayega, abhi im njoyin the open highway.." and so we 3 sped along the NH58 with Salil’s bike illuminating the path like a floodlight.. We passed Meerut, into the single lane highway, into twilight when suddenly WHAM.. "wot the hell!!" that was the road telling us that we were in UP. Potholes!! and really big ones too.. Riding in the dirt patches next to the roads was easier.. We made slow progress.. Finally reached Haridwar, got our first glimpse of the holy Ganga, which was going to be our companion for the rest of the journey. So 4 of us (3 riders and the river), reached Rishikesh. Our first stop since we left Delhi.

A quick breakfast and we were on our way. Hills could be seen on the horizon. Next turn and I suddenly realized that the road was spiralling towards the sky. The hills were here... I took a deep breath and a big sip of water from my ‘jurad’ hydrapack and started climbing up. A right turn then a left then right, "Hey im getting the hang of this.. This is gonna be fun.." Then suddenly, my rear wheel decided to go its own way!! "Holy GOD im dead!!" Just as I was taking a steep turn, leaning to left side, my rear wheel hit a patch of dirt lying on the road and started slipping towards right!! I straightened, braked, shifted weight to keep the balance and my bike danced such a dance that would make even the best kathakalli dance look novice. "That was a close call.. Sparsh beta, drive carefully man.." So I started taking the turns more slowly, carefully.. Manik following me must have started getting bored. Next turn and he passed me and disappeared around the corner. I started following him. It was easier this way. There came a blind turn ahead. Manik took it pretty fast, I slowed down a bit. And "WHAT THE F@#$!!" Turning downhill at full speed was a truck blocking the full road and on the my other side was a drop that only god could survive. "What to do now? If I break hard, I’ll skid over the edge. If I don’t I’ll go straight into the truck!! God save me.." I shifted to a lower gear, released the clutch slowly, applied light brakes, skidded a bit, used my feet to balance and somehow managed to stop in the dirt next to the road, safely. "Ok, now entering hyper-caution mode.." So once again a deep breathe and a bigger sip of water and journey began again. After some time we took a break to stretch our legs, drank some frooti and water.. I saw the scenary around and thought "Yeah man.. Finally I am here.. in the mountains.."
Im in hills...

the twisted road..

the photographer at work..

After that till Chamba was a time of getting used to the mountain roads, to negotiating the turns correctly. After Chamba as I was going at not a very fast speed my rear wheel suddenly declared its independence from the bike and started moving sideways. This seemed pretty familiar and I was hoping that it was just the dirt on the road that was causing this.. With lot more unconventional braking, sweating and bike doing samba, I stopped.. As I got down, I was hoping against hope but it was as I feared.. A FLAT TIRE!! Manik and Salil were no where in sight.. I checked my cell phone and luckily it was catching network. I called them back. Manik and Salil took out the wheel, and Salil took me to Chamba ( which was just 4kms away) and got it fixed.
As they were removing the wheel..

i was clicking pics..

A delay of an hour. As we approached Tehri dam, Salil turned onto a road.. well, actually no road, just a path of dirt.. "Offroading.. Ab ayeja mazza.." Salil and the "road"



The view from the path of the Terhi dam was awesome. The water was looking totally unnatural..

Riding was fun. We stopped occasionally for photography as we went around the Tehri dam.

Good part of the day we spent there. Basically we covered the dam from all angles..

first time on the dirt tracks for me..



more scenary..

At some places the view was just breathtaking.





We even went down to the water..

One place the road abruptly sank. Salil dint see it till late and had to jump over it..

Then we had some snacks at a small dhaba which today must be submerged in water. Near the dhaba..



Then we came across this huge bridge..
my mentors..


Manik..

Salil..

More views of the dam..



Then after more off-roading we reached the road. Now the progress was faster. Now we had pretty straight roads running along the river..



the river..





Then as the dusk was setting we reached Uttarkashi, our stop for the night.

Lying in my bed at night, I was very very happy. I had survived the first day of my first ride to hills and that also without any mishaps.
Next day we left Uttarkashi. The aim was to reach Gangotri. The route was not as yet open for pilgrims and was still under repair. Till some time, the roads were ok but as we reached the landslide prone area, they just disappeared. We were riding in the dirt tracks. All along the way we had the beautiful blue Ganga or Bhagirathi as it is called here, for company..

the bad roads..

There were workers at many places rebuilding the road.

the road and the river..

water falling from melting snow..

my bike..

So most of the day was spend in off-roading..



We could see snow clad mountains in the horizon.

As the day passed i realised that they were coming closer and the possibility of seeing snow thrilled me.

closer..

more closer..

almost there..

It was almost evening, i took a right-hander and stopped with delight. Lying on both sides of the road was snow.

This was the first time i was actually seeing it. I immediately got down and went to touch it. Really happy, i moved on. Slowly the amount of snow increased and after we started having snow on the road..

Photo-studio at work(shot through a hole in the snow)..

from Manik's cam..

this is what he was clicking..

where the snow swallowed my foot..

Snow all around..



A few kilometres after Harsil we hit a dead end. Blocking the way was a huge wall of snow from an avalanche.

We climbed it.. Our bikes as seen from top.. See the height..

On the other side..



salil..

It was a big dissapointment. Over the edge of the road we saw a river running below.

Salil and me climbed down the ice laden slope till the river where we found waist deep snow. We were having trouble climbing down as our feet kept on slipping in the snow. Luckily some ITBP officers were passing by who helped up climb down and then back up.
River from below..

The ITBP officers asked us to come and stay in their camp and we happily agreed. The other option would have been to go back to Harsil and stay there but staying in the ITBP camp looked more fun. We left our bikes on the road near the snow block and went with them. It was really cold at night. Next morning we left for home. Some photography on the way. More snow covered mountains..



The tree had a weird shape..

the river..

At the avalanche now a bulldozer was clearing the snow..



some view point..

but the view was actually good..

since it was early morning the water on the road had frozen..

melting ice on the road..



the poser..

good views..

view of Harsil town from the road..



some random shots..





The whole day was spent in riding, enjoying the mountains. We had been travelling along the Ganga for the third day today and i wanted to touch it once. So we drove till the bank..







A board whose distances puzzled me..

As the sun was setting, we had crossed Uttarkashi. On the road, we saw a small hotel which was right at the edge of the cliff. we decided to stay there..

The view from the balcony was beautiful. Some people trying to spoil the photo..



The sun setting..

Salil playing with the dog..

Next day was again a slow and steady ride through the twisties.. just before the hills ended..

followed by a boring ride through the plains. As it got dark i could not see much in my stock headlight. I was tailgating any vehicle which was moving at my speed. I realised that the tail lights of a merc were stronger than my headlamp. I tried tailgating it but it made sure i realised that i was on a mere 150cc bike. Finally i started riding behind Salil. And atlast we reached Delhi and ended my first trip to the hills...
A heartfelt thanks to Manik and Salil for bearing with my slow riding and a special thanks to Manish for lending me his camera..