Cycling on one of the highest, dangerous, yet the most stunning highways in the world
“Though the road’s been rocky it sure feels good to me.” ― Bob Marley
What makes us travel and explore new horizons in life? What motivates us to be adventurous and tests the limits of our human spirit? Different people will answer these questions differently based on their lives’ current circumstances. We also had similar questions in mind when we planned our first unassisted bicycling expedition. When I say unassisted that means we did not take any support vehicle with us, stayed at roadside tents/dhabas, and took bare minimum cycle maintenance kit with us.
We chose to ride on this marvelous Himalayan road, which starts at Manali and ends at Leh. This interstate highway connects Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir states in India. It has the lowest altitude of approximately 6,000 feet and the highest altitude of approximately 17,300 feet. This mountainous nature of the terrain has divine beauty along with its larger than life challenges, such as heavy snowfall, landslides, strong wind, and Acute Mountain Sickness, just to name a few.
If this route is so risky, then why did we go for it? Call it passion for adventure, love for nature, or call it going into the unknown to search within, or simply call it a way to deal with mid life crisis.
Having said that, I strongly feel our motto of this journey resonates with the motto of LIFE magazine from the Hollywood movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. — A film produced by Ben Stiller and written by Steve Conrad.
To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.
Through this article series, I am trying to relive those exhilarating moments and also want to help anyone who wants to plan for this splendid road journey. Read on to know what it takes to plan and how we executed our dream cycling itinerary. Alternatively, add comments if you have any specific questions, I will answer to the best of my knowledge.
