Solo Indian female cyclist's journey from Manali to Leh! #bestof2018

DAY 2- MANALI

Reached Manali at 9 am and all sorts of things were coming to my mind. Looked for a hotel nearby mall road and got the cycle checked at a local shop on the mall road and explored Manali. In the evening sat on the mall road and stared at random people (my favorite thing to do)

DAY 3- MANALI TO KOTHI

The first day of the ride was supposed to be till Marhi but I was exhausted and wanted to return to Manali back after riding just for 15 minutes. I somehow reached this place called Kothi which is just 10kms from manali. I took a room at Kothi and pondered on my decision to cycle all the way to Leh. I was not sure .

DAY 4- KOTHI TO MARHI

As I woke up the next morning I did not want to cycle but I did not not want to give up either and just walked with the cycle and just kept going. On the way met three amazing cyclists from Thailand who started from Manali and were heading to Marhi. The views were simply stunning and the ride all uphill and tortuous .

DAY 5- MARHI TO SISSU

The next day was as bad or even worse than the previous day. The ride from Marhi to rohtang pass was killing . It rained all throughout the ride which made it even worse. I was shivering and was worried because I was really slow but the only thing that made me kept going was the feeling that after rohtang pass it was a downhill ride. I just pushed and pushed myself till Rohtang pass. After rohtang pass was just amazing. All downhill till sissu, the road was not that amazing but I did not complain.

DAY 6- SISSU TO JISPA

Sissu to jispa was pretty amazing. The ride was awesome mixed with both uphill and downhill. The views kept getting gorgeously breathtaking. At one point of time I was almost riding faster than motorcycles. Had the best fried rice and chai of my life at Keylong. And Keylong is the only you will get signal and internet before Leh. so messaged and called everyone. As I was heading towards jispa I met this group of bikers called rohtang riders who were having tea and local biscuits and they saw me coming. They all came to me and clicked photos and congratulated me for doing this amazing journey that too solo. For the first time I felt so proud and yes a total heroic feeling.

DAY 7- JISPA TO ZING ZING BAR

UFF! Another killing day. Gave up so many times. Basically it was 90% mental strength and 10% physical strength that was required for today. But every time somebody crossed me and gave a thumbs up I was again up and started riding. Most of the times people were shocked to see a female riding alone that too with 15kgs of extra weight on the cycle. Some advised me to take the bus till Leh . Some asked me about my group. Some even said I won't be able to do it. Lower Zing Zing Bar was the place I just fell on the ground and could not go any further and stopped a truck to drop me till upper zing zing bar. As soon as I reached upper zing zing bar I started vomiting and was shivering badly. The lady at the snow view point dhaba came to the rescue and did every possible thing she could manage to make me feel better.

DAY 8- ZING ZING BAR TO SARCHU

Till baralacha la the ride was extremely difficult. Because of the gain in altitude breathing became diffficult. And very strange but happy thing happened . As I was riding towards baralacha la , three bikers came to me and one of them shouted my name and it turned out to be my school friend who was returning from leh. After riding for days and just talking to strangers I felt so happy seeing a known face. After reaching bharatpur the ride was all downhill but this time I was stopping not because I was tired and breathless but because mountains were simply out of this world. I in my life have never seen so many shades of brown . I was awestruck with the beauty of sarchu. just a black road surrounded by mountains of chocolate lay ahead of me.

DAY 9- SARCHU TO WHISKEY NALLAH

When I was researching about the manali to leh route , every cyclist described this as one of the deadliest days of the entire journey and rightly so. Today was the day I had to cross the deadly gata loops( the famous 21 hairpin bends). And I agree to all of them it was deadly. Also crossed nakeela to reach whiskey nallah and called it a day. After reaching Whiskey nallah met three amazing cyclists from The Indian army who were creating a world record of cycling maximum distance in a country.

DAY 10- WHISKEY NALLAH TO DEBRING

My favorite day! I cycled on the more plains which was such a joy. The ride till pang was was bad because of the condition of the road but after that it was relief to eyes ,leg sand soul. The only thing I did not like was the cold. It was freezing. I will not do justice to the beauty of more plains by describing them in words so it is better to see the pictures yourself.

DAY 11- DEBRING TO UPSHI

The mountains from brown turned into white. It snowed the entire previous night. As I reached tanglang la it was just white all around and my hands were numb, I was shivering and to add to the misery it started raining. The BRO people working on the road saw me shouting and cursing and praying the sun god to appear and offered me tea and biscuits. I had 4 cups of tea before the sun showed up and I cycled till upshi. After tanglang la I did not pedal for once. All downhill and my eyes were wide open to absorb the beauty ladakh. The landscape again turned brown and green as I entered the ladakh valley.

DAY 12- UPSHI TO LEH

Beautiful day and beautiful everything! The landscape was to die for. I was constantly saying wow throughout my ride. The mountains were red in colour because of the natural reddish colour stones. I was amazed by the beauty ladakh had to offer and I also understood the craze as why every biker wants to go to ladakh. It is like a pilgrimage to them.